


Drowning

by moonlightkisses



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Bad Boy Jughead, Betty Cooper & Sweet Pea Friendship, Betty Cooper & Toni Topaz Friendship, Betty Cooper Needs a Hug, F/F, F/M, Feared!Jug, Forbidden Love, Good Girl Betty, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Jughead Jones & Sweet pea Friendship - Freeform, Jughead Jones & Toni Topaz Friendship, Jughead Jones Needs a Hug, M/M, Minor Veronica Lodge/Reggie Mantle, Opposites Attract, POV Betty Cooper, POV Jughead Jones, Perfect!Betty, Protective Jughead Jones, Southside Serpent Jughead Jones, Southside Serpent king!Jug, bughead - Freeform, kevin/veronica/betty best friend trio
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2019-08-29 02:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 39,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16735440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlightkisses/pseuds/moonlightkisses
Summary: He was the moon and she was the sun. Destined to be apart, yet chasing each other every sunrise and sunset. Betty Cooper hid behind her white picketed fence and tight sweaters, never unveiling what she covered behind her mask. Jughead Jones sat on the throne of a kingdom of darkness, feared by all residents of the Southside and Northside. Yet, one night, light met dark and the whole world fell upside down.





	1. rooftop cigarettes

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very scared to share this as I have never shared my writing before but I truly love this work. My writing is a peice of me that very few people know about but I am very excited to share it. I know it is a little rough in the beginning but please try it and read the first chapter. 
> 
> It would mean the WHOLE WORLD to me if you left kudos and comments. 
> 
> Thank you so much!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: CATCALLING AND ABUSE

 

A cloud of smoke filled his lungs followed by the addictive burn that he knew all too well. Jughead released it in a slow breath as he watched it be carried off with the wind. Music from the party below could barely be heard over sounds of the city streets under him as he stood along the edge of the rooftop.

The northside’s famous Blossom Twins, beloved to few and envied by most, annual rager was only a short distance underneath him. He and just about the whole town had heard that it was going to be thrown at the Hilton hotel; room 402. While it was invite only, that didn’t stop Jughead and his fellow teen Serpents from crashing it. They walked in with high heads and sharp stares, knowing that they were feared by all; as everyone knows that Serpent bites are deadly especially the king’s.

His feet had pulled him to the bar and before he registered what he had been doing, the taste of cheap beer flooded his mouth and dripped down his throat. He cursed the burden that his family bestowed on him of the wanting and craving of alcohol. Jughead wasn’t his father, he knew that. He knew that he would never become him, as he hated the man with a passion and yet here he was feeding the evil that both men carry.

Jughead spent almost an hour nursing bottles that were handed to him. While girls who bore pearls and diamond earrings that cost more than his childhood trailer park as casual wear annoyingly purred in his ear, as if that would ever make him want to join them in bed. He had gotten around the Southside and even defiled some Northside girls many times but tonight he wasn’t in the mood. So after about the fourth girl, Jughead snuck up to the roof; for he knew it was only limited to workers and he wouldn’t have to worry about running into any more people.

He could see everything up here, from his side to the northside. He could see the lights of Tony’s Burger Shop flicker every 3 minutes, a time that he has calculated ever since he was a seven-year-old boy wearing an odd shaped beanie, two sizes too big for his head, walking in daily with his hungover father at his toe. Nothing and everything has changed since those days. His father was still a drunk and Jughead still sat at the table in the back right corner every day. Yet instead of his fleece jean jacket, his shoulders held the infamous leather with a serpent carrying eyes deadlier than Medusa’s inscribed on the back.

Ever since the day that Jughead placed the symbol on his back, everyone watched him with fear in their eyes, both sides alike. Even his old neighbors that saw him grow up hesitantly glanced the other way, and yet Tony didn’t. He still served his favorite costumer every day with a smile as he ruffled up the young man’s hair, treating the boy as if he were his own blood. 

A giggle sounded through the air and brought the boy out from his trance in an abrupt way. So much so that the cigarette hanging from his lips almost slipped as he let out a curse. Jughead could have sworn he was alone, he even locked the door to make sure no one would follow him. Before he turned to the voice he pictured yet another tipsy girl wrapped in her daddy’s money.

She wasn’t what he’d ever imagine.

The girl looked as if she had just jumped out of a 50s sitcom, a cookie cutter girl hidden behind her white picket fence, tight sweaters and even tighter blonde ponytail. A girl who did not belong at a rager like the one downstairs. A girl who looked like she should be in her perfect, pastel room studying and waiting for a text from her football jock boyfriend.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice was even sweeter than the laugh she tried to hide behind her hand. It reminded him of warm honey melting in his mouth. Her scent traveled its way over to him and he began to become engulfed in strawberries, like the ones he used to steal from the northside’s gardens late at night when he needed an escape from the screaming that constantly pounded through his trailer.

“Sorry, I thought I was the only one up here.” She apologized again. This time while looking down with fluttering eyelashes and a blush staining her cheeks as she had become embarrassed by his lack of response.

“What are you doing here?” He said rather bluntly as he fought off the urge to wince at his tone. “You don’t look like the rager type.”

While most would take offense to his statement, she brushed it off as he was right. She sighed and looked back at the skyline but not before locking eyes with the leather-bearing boy.

“I’m usually not.” She looked back at the boy in front of her. His raven locks were trapped underneath the crown-shaped knit beanie adoring his head. Moles littered his face making it look as if god herself spent her precious time placing them. An infamous leather jacket hung from his frame. A jacket that any Riverdale resident could spot from a mile away. A jacket that stood as a badge of the worst, most feared gang of New York; the Southside Serpents. Known to be run by the youngest leader of the gang’s history, rumored to be the cruelest of them all despite his age. She had heard stories about them from her friends and her mother, both parties warning her to never look twice at a member. She knew that she should be afraid of the boy that was staring at her as if he was trying to figure her all out in one glance, but she wasn’t. Her first instinct should be to run, run for her life, away from a boy who was submerged in a kingdom of darkness. Nevertheless, her feet were cemented in place, pastel alongside leather. Maybe it was his piercing eyes that held the color of the roaring ocean waves and the dark storm clouds scattered across the sky above the pair, eyes that looked as though they had held more pain and trauma than the young lines of his face, that made her stay close with curiosity flowing through her veins.

“I’m only here because my best friend made me sneak out of the house to go to the so-called party of the year, saying that it would make her feel better after her boyfriend of seven months broke up with her. I mean I couldn’t say no and she knew that but she also knew that I had about three assignments due next week that my mother wants me to complete before tomorrow. Oh Gosh! How am I going to get that done? You don’t want to see my mother mad. It horrible it’s like a caged animal being released with fire in their eyes and- I'm rambling-oh gosh, I-I’m so sorry, I-”

“Stop apologizing.” His voice was rough and sharp but held no annoyance. His eyes swept over her frame once more. A blush, darker than the one before, again stained her round cheeks as she searched for something to look at other than him. At that moment, Jughead realized that her blush was one of his favorite things to look at; alongside Jellybean’s crooked-teeth smiles, Tony’s flickering lights, and the New York skyline. But she was a northsider and he wasn’t ever going to fall for someone like her.

“Sorry.” The whisper that traveled through the cool air made him look back into her eyes. Eyes swimming with the color of the Amazon rainforest. He forced himself to look away while he took another drag of his cigarette. A smirk spread across his face when he looked at the girl before him once again. Her eyes had now traveled to his mouth and watched as his lips released the intoxicating smoke. Jughead’s smile had spread even wider once she noticed that he had caught her and her face flooded cherry red.

He let out a deep chuckle as he shook his head. Goosebumps traveled down her arms at the sound. Her breath was caught in her throat as she fully took in the gang member.

“Are you gonna tell me your name or are you too busy checking me out?” Jughead raised his eyebrow as his tongue poked at his cheek, again not missed by the girl in question. While he expected her to blush or maybe apologize he did not expect what followed.

Her eyes hooded as she stepped with confidence, shorting the distance between the two to the point where his frame towered above hers. She tried to push away the fact that he smelt of cigarettes and motors, taking her back to the escape of fixing broken automobiles on hot, endless summer days. “Nope, mother said not to talk to strangers. Much less a gang member, especially a Serpent.” The last part became slurred exposing the alcohol in her system. Her pointer finger jabbed his chest, “You first.”

Jughead looked down at the girl below him, amusement flooding his stormy eyes. “Jughead.”

Her eyebrows pushed together in confusion as she waited for him to tell her he was only joking but as that hot minute passed between the two, she realized he was serious. “I like it.” Her honey-sweet voice said as her eyelashes fluttered back to the city lights. “Elizabeth, but please call me Betty.” She spoke more to the wind rather than Jughead.

Of course, the girl who adored pastel sweaters and dangerously tight Hitchcock blonde ponytails was named Betty. She was a walking stereotype, the daughter that all northside mothers prayed to have and the girl the all-star American football jock was destined to wed.

“You never told me why you were up here.” Betty glanced at Jughead than back to the shiny lights ahead of her. The wind began to pick up as the dark storm above brewed, oblivious to the pair.

“Smoke break.” He replied as if it was obvious while he brought the addictive substance back between his lips. Jughead could see her watching him from the corner of his eye as he was faced towards the lights again. He saw how her eyes filled with curiosity and want as the smoke eagerly escaped his mouth. “Wanna?” He held the cigarette out for her to take.

Betty’s eyebrows shot up towards her hairline and her mouth fell agape. “W-what…?”

“Do you want a drag?”

“Oh..Oh! No!... I mean no thank you.” Jughead just shrugged and lifted his hand back to his mouth but before his lips fully grasped it Betty gave in. “Ok, maybe just one time… I mean she would never find out anyway… right?”

The boy just let out a deep chuckle and placed the cigarette between his thumb and pointer for her to take. Betty took it carefully, observing the object as though she had never seen one before. “You do know how to right?”

“Sure.” Her tone was nowhere near convincing as her eyebrows were once again scrunched together and her pink-glossy lips, lips that Jughead just now fully noticed, were plumbed to form a frown.

“Here.” His whisper was barely audible but Betty still heard it. She heard the soothing, calm tone he obtained, polar to the way he first spoke to her. It calmed the nerves buzzing through her. She didn’t know why, why she was still standing here, why she took the cigarette in the first place, or why she was blatantly defining what her mother groomed her to become. Yet, Betty still let the boy take the cigarette back into his rough fingers and she still let him place the bud between her lips. “Breathe.” He spoke in the same kind tone that contradicted his bad boy image.

Cold, ruff stormy eyes met her warm and bright forest ones. She breathed in, instantly feeling her throat protest against the foreign substance. Her lungs filled and released the smoke as fast as it could. She coughed till water blurred her vision. Goosebumps rushed down her body but not because of what she had just done but for him. Him and his deep chuckle that made her heart race. Him and his ice-cold eyes that just couldn’t seem to look anywhere but at her.

Betty didn’t understand why everytime that his eyes locked with hers, her lungs decided to stop working and her heart jumped. Why everytime he took another drag her lips itched to take place of the cigarette. Why when a curl of his raven locks escaped the restraint of his woven crown and fell across his face, her hand instinctively brushed it away. She was so caught up in swimming with the waves of his ocean eyes that once she recovered for air she had realized what she had just done. While Jughead looked as though he didn’t mind, the embarrassment set in and she found herself jerking her hand away from him and back to her side as if he were acid.

With flushed cheeks and a soft apology, she distanced away from him. “Why do you keep apologizing, Blondie?” Jughead swiftly closed the space that she created. He could feel the soft fabric of her thin sweater rub against his cold leather. Betty was hanging her head for she was too scared of the risk drowning once again. Yet, Jughead gently grabbed her chin and lifted her eyes back to his. “Hm?” He tilted his head to the side as the corner of his lip curled up into a small smile. They were so close, so caught up in one another that once he finally began to lean down and her eyes fluttered closed with her lips slightly agape, the rain fell and the thunder boomed.

Some would say it was the universe laughing at the odd pair. Believing it was ridiculous that Betty and Jughead would even look at each other, let alone lock lips and intertwine their worlds. She was the preppy cheerleader who lived a perfect life while hiding her pain in the scars embedded in her palms. Whereas, he sat on the throne of a kingdom destined to fall. Betty resembled the sun and its warm rays where he was the moon surrounded in darkness and everyone knows the sun and the moon never intertwine.

“Shit!” Jughead cursed as the cold rain clouded his vision of Betty. The distance, once again, had grown between the pair due to the scare of the storm. The air around him had felt as though it dropped several degrees and he saw how her teeth chattered as she hugged herself. Without another thought, Jughead stripped himself of his notorious leather and wrapped it Betty’s shoulders.

“No please… you don’t really have to-” Her eyes grew large and she frowned at him.

“Put your arms in the sleeves.” Betty could tell that he was used to barking orders and getting what he wanted by the tone of his voice and the way his sharp eyes watched waiting for her to do as he asked. Once she had, Betty could see him visibly relaxed. Jughead took a deep breath and wiped the wet, raven curls from his face. She could now see what was underneath the jacket he wore as his second skin and with the rain nothing was left for imagination. She could see how built he really was, his thin, grey shirt stuck to his abs lining everything perfectly and his arms looked so strong she believed he could lift twice her weight easily. This just added to everything that she was trying not to feel for the boy with stormy eyes, the boy who would change her world if she got too close. What Betty didn’t realize was that her life changed the minute Jughead stepped on the roof.

“Come on, let’s get you inside.” He placed his hand on the small of her back and guided her through the falling bullets. Thunder sounded off in the distance and a flash of light covered the sky as a bolt of lighting appeared a mile out. Jughead felt her jump at the sound and lean further into him. “Shh.. this way.” A smile graced his face as he felt her take a deep breath and relax at his words. He didn’t understand why he was being so kind to a northsider or why he shed his skin for her. He would like to tell himself it was because she was just there and he would do it for anyone-north or south side alike. But deep down he knew it was because of the forest caught in her eyes. Pain hidden behind years of suppression, flaws behind a perfect façade. Betty was so much more than she lead on, intriguing him in every way but he would never admit it.

Once they got back into the hotel, they could hear the music blaring and the pounding of teens trying to wash away their pain one red solo cup at a time. Both their worlds were just a hallway away and yet neither made a move to get back to it. Betty knew that V would be out looking for a sloppy hook up after Archie and Kevin could be found in the corner participating in a game of telephone filled with rumors and dark secrets of their peers. Whereas, Jughead knew the Serpents were trying to enjoy a night where they could believe they were just teenagers worrying about their homework and not taking a fist from their parents or being kicked by the northside for trying to survive in the life they were forced into. Neither had anything waiting for them on the other side of the door so they didn’t move to leave each other’s company.

When Jughead lifted his hand from the small of Betty’s back she felt a thousand times colder, as if his fingers were a blanket heating her body. With the same fingers, he tore the crown from his head and raked through his dark waves. Her green orbs followed the action and she felt her breath get caught in her throat when he turned to her. In the light of the hotel, Betty could see the Serpent so much clearer. He looked like the definition of sin with wet raven black hair falling into the same eyes that she has drowned in countless of times. Every mole and freckle was illuminated by the light that also helped her find a few scars. One was pulled up with the unholy smirk that made her pull her own plump lip in between her teeth.

Jughead’s eyes darkened at the site before him. A water droplet ran down Betty’s face, down past her breathtaking eyes and her round, red cheeks and onto her glossy, plump lips. The same lips that she had pulled between her teeth, as she watched him intensely with her dark hooded eyes. This was all so much for him, she was the perfect girl next door but at this moment she was covered in sin and begged for his darkness to corrupt her for the light now burned her. “Blondie… You’re playing with fire.” His voice was rough and strained as he continued to stare at her lips, lips that looked so inviting for his own.

“Good… burn me alive” and with only that whisper the two defied the universe and connected. His hands held her face as he dominated her mouth with his skillful tongue. She tasted better than anything he ever imagined like honey sweet strawberries melting in his mouth. It was as if he were a starved man and she was all he craved.

All of this was so much for her. He tasted of mint and cigarettes, a combo Betty didn’t know she needed until now. Every nerve in her body was buzzing as she kissed him till she saw stars. The adrenaline raced through her veins as they connected on a level the devil himself would blush at. They both knew that they shouldn’t be doing this, they should be on their respected sides living in the lives they were trapped in but they didn’t care. The pair were so caught up in one another that everything around them disappeared. The music faded and the lights dimmed and all that stood were just two teens kissing in the middle of the night.

“COPS RUN!!” Everything came crashing back to them. Their time was gone and they were back to being Betty and Jughead; northside princess and southside serpent. Enemies built on by the blood, sweat, and tears their great-grandparents shed during the war of 1938. Creating the blissful, friendly town into two sides. With the north acting as though nothing ever happened, hiding imperfections in the basements of their suburban homes and the south thriving on chaos and the fearful glances from their old neighbors.

The two pulled away abruptly at the sound. Betty was trying to regain her breath and stop her heart from racing. She searched his face with her wide forest eyes, watching as he released heavy breathes and his rough lips, now stained with her gloss, swelled. Jughead broke from her stare as he distanced away from her while raking through his curls. This time when he looked back up, his eyes changed. Gone were their warm and wanting. Now they regained the cold, crashing waves that killed all that dared to swim among them. They held the storms that demolished towns for miles on end. Betty took a scared step back from the boy in front of her.

Yells and stomps from Betty’s peers flooded the hall as everyone rushed through the door to escape the police. In their fear of being caught, everyone ran. One person, Betty believes it might have been Moose Mason from her glimpse of brown hair and broad shoulders, knocked the girl so hard she lost her balance. She was waiting for the fall, to feel the impact of the hardwood as it met her body, but it never came. Instead, she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and pull her into the person’s side. She knew who it was before she even met his notorious eyes.

Betty let out a surprised gasp as she fell further into his embrace as more bodies bumped into the pair. When she looked back at his face, she saw the warmth once again but only for a second before he tore himself from her stare; as if Jughead was fighting a war with himself.

His jaw clenched and his body was tense as he dared not to drown into a puddle for the girl clinging onto his frame. The faces passing held different expressions as they looked at the two. Some mouths fell to the floor and others laughed.

Once the crowd started to die and the sirens grew closer, Jughead released his hold, sending shivers down Betty’s side. He walked towards the danger and spilled beer without even a glance at her. “You’re going the wrong way.” Her voice was stern and laced with anger. The eyes that once held warmth pierced at his back.

“Go.” Is all the boy said as he continued down the wrong path.

Her pearly, white sneakers followed behind his combat boots as she stepped over forgotten beer cans. Once he heard her footsteps, he whipped around. He penetrated her with his tormented eyes. “What the fuck are you doing.”

“I could ask you the same thing.” Betty matched his tone as she stood her ground.

“I told you to leave.” He snarled as he began to step forward.

“And I asked you a question.” Jughead towered over her frame. She held her chin high as she raised her eyebrows. A moment passed as the two stood before one another, all that could be heard were their mended breaths and the danger inching closer.

Jughead searched her face for any sign of her giving in and listening to his commands. When he didn’t find any his shoulders sagged and his eyes downcast to his boots. “I'm going to find the Serpents… I didn’t see them leave.” He spoke softly. “Now please go before I pull you further into this.” He lifted his head, bringing his storm to her forest.

She would have said no, she would have fought him even more, she would have asked him what he meant. She would have done a lot of things if it weren’t for his eyes. They spoke more than what he said, laced with sincerity and vulnerability. “Jug…” She whispered as she released a shaky breath. Betty looked around the room as red and blue lights faintly flashed across the walls. “Please be careful.” She turned before meeting his eyes once more for she knew if she did she wouldn’t be able to leave. After a few seconds, she heard his combat boots beat against the hardwood as he ran towards the chaos he lives off of and she’s born to run from.

She raced through the hall, down the steps, and past the main entrance doors. She didn’t stop till her lungs burned and her legs began to give in. The rain still pounded down on the civilians while thunder roared warnings of the lighting bolts that followed. Betty saw people around her watch her with fear flooding their eyes. Some fled to the other side of the street while others whispered into their companion’s ear. She just hung her head and concentrated on getting home to her safe and secure pastel life.

The rain began to pick up, whipping a breeze through the air with it. Bullets hit her, cloaking her body in frigid water. She should have been shivering from the cold temperature the storm created, yet she wasn’t. Oddly, Betty felt comfortably warm.

When two women walked past her in a hurry she heard a faint whisper. “That’s a Serpent.” Betty whipped her head up and unconsciously searched for the boy who held a storm that would wreck her world in the iris of his eye. As if he would follow her, tell her to never go back to her painfully overbearing mother, and drive her away from everything. But that was a fairytale and Alice made sure to slap that type of nonsense out of her daughter’s mind.

He wasn’t in sight, no one was except for the two women and Betty while the occasional car buzzed past. Only then did Betty realize the women were looking at her while clinging onto their pearls with wide eyes and sinful whispers. She just furrowed her brow and averted her eyes as they turned the corner leaving the girl alone in the middle of the night.

The weather calmed shortly after Betty past the burger shop with the flickering lights. She was now in Southside territory, home of chaos and destruction. She remembers the shop she passed by. It was only a short distance from home and served as the landmark of the shortcut she created years before to help her walk home quicker late at night when she was coming back from a shameful few hours of drowning herself in cheap beer and hard vodka.

The moon emerged from the mask of the storm and guided the girl through the dark streets. Chills ran down Betty’s spine as she heard shouts and howls from men hidden in the shadows of forgotten alleyways. “Where you headed, pretty lady?” Her heart began to race and her fingers curled into her palms as she sped up her pace. “She’s not from here… No! She’s a northsider! Aren’t you, little lady?” They drunkenly snickered amongst one another as they grew closer to the girl in question. Betty continued to hang her head and block out the calls they sent to her by burying her nails into the flesh of her palms.

“HEY!” One of the men shouted but she continued to ignore them. The stomps grew closer and louder, yet Betty did not hear them as she has fallen too far into the pain she was causing herself to feel. She felt the blood rush to the surface and her hands start to heat but she subsided all of it as she was too caught up in a trance she created. Yet, she was pulled from that same trance when she felt heavy breaths tickle down her neck.

Betty looked around at the foreign surroundings she had walked into, finding only dark corners. With shaky hands and wide eyes, she turned around only to see the same men as before. She was outnumbered, two to one. Both covered in a strong aroma of alcohol making her nose burn and eyes slightly tear as one leaned forward and whispered against her face. “I asked you a question, dollface.” She felt his stubble against her soft cheek. She tried to swallow away the tightness she began to feel in her throat and cast her view upwards. Betty released a deep breath as she locked eyes with the predator before her.

A cruel and chilling smirk spread along his lips. Using everything her muscles were capable of, Betty kicked the man in front of her making him double over in pain. “YOU BITCH!” He groaned as he straightens to his full height, towering over the quivering northsider. Before she comprehended what was happening, she felt a sting travel through her right cheek as the man collide his dirty hand with her face. The force of the impact caused her feet to fall out from under her, landing her face first into the dirt below.

Both men laughed at the weak and helpless girl among them and watched as she pulled her sore body up. The moon cast light against her porcelain skin, making her bright eyes pop against the darkness and revealing the dirt that stained her tight blonde ponytail. Their eyes traveled along her slim body, sizing her up once more, and in the light provided by the sky noticed something they hadn’t before. There, adoring her small shoulders wrapped around the back of her leather jacket stood the infamous two-headed Serpent, a known symbol of the Jones’s men.

“Shit!... is-is that the king’s jacket?” One of the drunks mumbled to his friend.

“It can’t be! Why would a northsider have it!” The other let out a rather strain laugh.

“Spike, it has his crown on it… only one Serpent jacket has a crown on it... J-Jughead Jones’s.” And with that, the men ran as fast as they could from the girl who bore the king’s crown.

The rest of the walk home was brutal for Betty. Every step she took shot pain through her body as it screamed for rest. Once she finally reached her house she stared at the white-picket fence surrounding it, acting as the gates to her own personal hell. She felt another tear slip down her cheek. With a deep breath and wipe to her face, Betty climbed her father’s ladder into her pastel room.

She looked to her bedside and saw the time was 2 am. She internally groaned as she pulled herself up once more and limped towards her bathroom, flicking the lights on. Viewing her reflection in that moment, Betty couldn’t even recognize herself. Stained in dirt, blood, and tears wrapped in foreign leather the girl just stared, for she was too drained to release more tears. Her cheek was smeared with blood as it dripped from a small cut underneath her eye caused by the silver ring the man wore, she could already see the bruises form and the handprint fade. She uncurled her palms to find them covered in her died blood. Without another thought, she began to strip herself of the filth that clung to her body.

She scrubbed herself of the night’s events under the hot water her shower head granted. After an hour of cleaning and readying herself, Betty snuck in between her bubblegum pink sheets. She laid there in silence and watched the moonlight shine through her curtains. Her eyes were heavy and mind cloudy but she still could not will herself to sleep.

The leather that hung on her chair was illuminated, helping her see all the details of the jacket. A two-headed serpent with a promise of destruction trapped in its yellow eyes was embroidered on the back. It hissed a warning to all that dared to venture close while bearing a grey three-pointed crown that perfectly resembles its owners. Jughead Jones, king of the Serpents, most dangerously feared person in New York, the ruler of all chaos the southside has caused. The same boy who comforted her when the storm struck, kissed her like she’s never been kissed before, and froze in the cold rain so she wouldn’t have to. The whispers indicated the king was a cruel and ignorant human who left fear and chaos in his wake. There were so many signs she should have seen. Maybe if she had known he sat on the throne rather than followed the destruction things would have been different. Yet, deep down Betty severely doubted that because she knew that in every universe, every scenario she would lose her breath from drowning in the waves of his ocean eyes.

She tossed over to her right side to escape the stare of the snake. The clock revealed how late it was becoming, stating the time of 4 am. She knew her mother would be disappointed when she finds her daughter sleeping at 6 am and not running around the neighborhood burning off her weekly milkshakes. She will be even more furious when she sees her daughter’s face but not for Betty’s well being but her reputation. She could already hear it. “What will people think about that ugly bruise under your eye, Elizabeth!” She didn’t even want to think about going to school, feeling the stares of her peers as they watch the perfect girl next door walk in with heavy bags and dark bruises covering her face.

Betty turned to her right side, left side, and laid on her back. She kicked the blankets off, then she pulled them back on but sleep never came. She stared back up to the ceiling and groaned. Every time she closed her heavy eyes she saw his face, felt the pain in her cheek and heard the voice that made her skin crawl. The worst part was she was terrified they would come back and hurt her in ways their eyes promised. Yet, she knew that would never happen for Jughead and his reputation protected her from those men.

She looked back to the leather and without thinking got up and pulled it off her chair. She limped back to her bed and sat there examining it. It felt heavy with the power it held. The ruff leather sat in contrast to the soft silk of her sheets. She wrapped it around her small frame. Instantly feeling safe and secure for now when her eyes shut all she saw was his smirk, felt the warmth he spread through her body and heard his rough voice that left goosebumps in its wake. Sleep captured the girl not long after leaving her to dream of rough waves and strong storms.

TBC


	2. his skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Southside High transfers to Riverdale High and Betty is forced to walk the halls knowing the king, who left her halo stained with his darkness, is close by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you, loves again for reading and especially if you've been waiting since the day I released the first chapter. I know my update took some time but I just wanted to make sure that it was good enough and written to my best ability. My favorite thing that I've ever written is the last part of the chapter so I am very excited to have you all read it. 
> 
> A special thank you to @reixnhart for being a kind friend and the perfect beta. <3
> 
> As ALWAYS, I cherish every kudos and comment you leave, it really keeps me updating.

The sun shined through Betty’s thin curtains and onto the girl’s silk sheets. The rays felt warm against her porcelain skin as she laid there wrapped in his leather. Everything was quiet and peaceful. Nothing, not even the little buzz of her AC, sounded through her room. She closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh when she finally heard what she had been dreading. “Elizabeth! Get up now!” Alice pounded on her bedroom door so hard Betty felt the sound bounce against the inside walls of her skull. 

After a night of little rest, her limp became less noticeable but her eye got worse. Looking in the mirror, Betty saw how the bruise was small and ran along her cheekbone. She would be able to cover it with her heavy concealer but she knew if anyone watched her close enough they would notice everything from her limp in her right side to the bags under her eyes. Jughead’s jacket hung loosely, looking almost two sizes too big for the girl as it fell down close to her knees, making her smile faintly. With one final look, Betty began her daily routine of masking herself behind her tight ponytails and snug sweaters. 

Once she had hidden his leather between her bubblegum sheets where it would stay warm and waiting for her next sleep, Betty heard the tires of her best friend’s car pull into her driveway. She collected her things and with one last glance towards her reflection was out the door and in Veronica’s pearly white Mercedes. Kevin sat in the back smiling at his phone while Ronnie turned the blaring music down. “B.” Betty watched her friend smirk as her eyes flooded with happiness. Meaning only one thing, her sloppy hook up went as planned and distracted the poor girl from her broken heart. 

“V.” Betty matched her tone in a mocking way as she held back the giggles forming in her throat at the childish manner her and her best friend were possessing. 

“You don’t even understand! OMG! He was so hot and…” Ronnie continued on about the events that happened between her and a tall, black-haired jock named Reggie in the hotel rooms cramped closet. Kevin even placed his phone down to hear the new gossip his best friend was serving him, listening to every word the girl said. While Betty, on the other hand, could only catch every few words as, what she’d like to believe, was caused her lack of sleep distracting her. When in reality, it was the constant thought of him. Jughead and his stupid jacket that she hid from everyone, giving her an adrenaline rush like she’s never felt before.The way his tongue felt against hers as he battled for dominance, leaving her to forever crave mint and cigarettes. The way his eyes were imprinted in her memory, even showing up during her peaceful dreams. Oh, but the way he was dripped in sin, looking like the angel of death himself as he stood in front of her soaked in the rain that poured on them moments before. 

“B! Did you hear me?” Betty was shaken from her thoughts of the king by Veronica, who stared at her with wide eyes awaiting her response. 

“Hm?... Oh yeah... yeah I heard you.” She spoke softly and kept her eyes on the road before them. 

Once the trio pulled into the parking lot of Riverdale High, Ronnie had finished her story leaving Betty with cherry cheeks from all the sinful details her best friend refused to restrain from spilling. While Kevin was drooling and complaining that he thinks he’ll “never have loud, scandalous sex like that”, earning a yell and hit from a flushed Betty Cooper, the whole way to class. 

History was boring and unnecessary if you ask any student. The teacher was almost seventy, walked with a cane and never knew how to work anything related to technology. No one learned a single fact so once the tests came, the students walked in with shaky hands and left with a failed grade. Everyone except the girl who adored pink sweaters and studied during her free time, just as her mother liked it. 

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Kevin, Veronica, and Betty walked out hand in hand as the boy complained about how he swore Mr. Clark spit on him during the lecture. The girls just shook their heads as they all sat in three chairs located in the back corner of the student lounge. If someone looked hard enough they would find something hidden in the shadows. A sloppy ‘KVB’ craved in the wood of the chairs, aging ever since the day three young, outcast freshmen found their spot. Betty was forever grateful for the young 14-year-olds that found her in tears in a bathroom stall, the ones who took her in when no one would. Many things have changed since that day. 

“So B… what happened with you last night?” The boy had gone tired of the old news and thirst for more. Her best friends stared at her in curiosity and raised eyebrows as if to urge her on with her own details. 

Everything came flooding back to her all at once, everything she tried to suppress countless times. The southside men with their chilling eyes and sharp slaps. The way their howls made her heart race and skin crawl. How her nails dug into the palms of her hands leaving them stained crimson. The pain that shot through her body as she limped her way home, tearings streaming down her face at each step she took. The timid looks strangers sent her way when they passed her on the street dressed in the king’s notorious leather. And well, most importantly the king himself, Jughead Jones. 

“Uh-well… I-uh-” Betty’s mouth fell agape as she searched for anything that her friends would believe. She knew she could never speak to anyone, not even Kevin or Veronica, about the night she danced with the devil and left with his crown. The same crown that was hidden safely in her pastel room, oblivious to all. 

Before she could say any more the principal spoke over the overcome speaker. “Attention students of Riverdale High, Southside High has shut down due to the burning of the school last night. Because of this, we are going to welcome our transfers with open arms and wide smiles, show that Bulldog spirit!” The speaker cracked out into the silence that fell upon the town. 

“WHAT?!” and with that scream, the town was revived once again. Anger filled the room as everyone was feeling it. Their eyes narrowed and mouths snarled, looking like bulls ready to charge. The snakes were now invading the home of the Bulldogs and they will bite and bark till their enemy slithers back to the southside. Even Kevin and Veronica looked appalled and she watched as they were once eager and excited faces changed into something she didn’t even recognize. Gone were her empathic, loving best friends, now all she saw were two strangers who held her most cherished memories.

Betty’s eyes grew in worry. She still was yet to know Jughead’s age, hell she didn’t even know he was the Serpent King when she let him darken her halo with his kisses. She pictured his face once more in the detailed memories she unconsciously stored in the back of her mind. He looked about her age, maybe a little older, with the young lines of his face and the way she felt his little stubble against her soft skin but his eyes and raking held more age than a 16-year-old. She prayed that he was older, gone from high school, and not walking down the very halls of her Riverdale high along with the rest of the transfers. 

 

Betty breathed in and closed her eyes, trying to return to moment and away from the disaster movie playing in her head. She unknowingly followed Veronica as she stomped her heels against the floor and made her way through the flood of students in the hallway. There, in front of the doors of Riverdale High stood a circle of black leather. The Serpent’s talked amongst themselves, acting as though the northside was not burning holes in the back of their jackets. Betty kept her eyes on the floor as everyone around her stared at the foreigners. 

“What the hell do you snakes think you’re doing here in the Northside?” Archie Andrews, the star football quarterback, laughed at the gang. The town loved his image but hated the boy behind it. A pretty boy next door on the outside, yet rotten and spoiled to the core. 

A boy at the head of the circle turned around. He wore a tight, grey shirt with a faded S imprinted on it, standing offbeat to the leather surrounding him. She heard the gasp that her peers released and the sudden shuffling of feet bounce across the room, and she dared herself not to look up for she feared she would see the storm once again. 

“Didn’t you hear, Southside High has burned down. Meaning we, the sad school-deprived kids, need somewhere to go and you were the closest. You don’t have a problem with that… do you?” At the sound of the voice that echoed in her head for hours, Betty looked up. She saw the way he inched closer to Archie. She watched as everyone took a scared step away from the king with their faces covered in fear, a contrast from the anger they held moments before. 

His eyes caught hers and she couldn’t breathe. All the worries that consumed her faded for she felt herself drown as she stood underneath his clouds and let the cold rain pour on her once again. She couldn’t do anything to stop it, her body was defiant to her no matter how much she pleaded herself to look away. The bell rang in distance but she couldn’t hear it cause all that stood were Jughead and her. The mischievous smirk that spread across his memorable lips make her heart race and face flush. She felt Veronica pull at her but she couldn’t bring herself to run away from the rain. 

“Betty!” Veronica grabbed her face to break the trance she had walked into. “Sweetie, what happened? I know they’re scary but I won’t let them hurt you, come here.” Ronnie spoke gently to the girl as she wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. Betty felt the heat if his stare but she continued to let herself be guided by her friends. She couldn’t help herself though, it was as if something was pulling her to him, and as she turned the corner she caught his eye once more. 

His eyes had never left her, not when the jocks aggressively pushed past his gang nor when he heard shouts fill the room. Jughead watched as she licked her lips setting the flame that he tried so hard to put out spread through his body like wildfire. He remembers her taste and the feeling of her soft skin along his rough fingers. He craved her so much that the night she had run off with his crown, he ordered strawberries with honey drizzled on the top at Tony’s and yet it didn’t fulfill his need of her. She watched him with so much intensity it made his breath become rugged and his heart jump in his chest. 

He sent a smirk Betty’s way and winked when she became noticeably weak at the knees. He knew he would never get to hold her in his arms because she will always run away from the darkness that he rules but it would cause no harm to play with her a little. 

Once she passed the corner, gone from his sight but not mind, Jughead regained his senses and heard the chaos forming around him. He laughed at the Bulldogs in front of him spitting useless threats into the void. He could see the panic in their eyes at every move he made for he knew that even his name frighten the town. He watched as they all followed one jock. A jock with flame red hair, covered in freckles and a strong build standing close to his height. 

“Go back to your addict mommies… fucking scum.” Anger boiled in the pit of Jughead’s chest but he subsided it as it was useless to go after an insecure bulldog when he clearly had the upper hand. He saw brown and pink accents flash in front of him as Toni lunge forward till Sweet Pea instantly grabbed her torso and held her as she bared her teeth, hissing threats while trying to kick herself free of the boy’s hold. 

Jughead sighed and step forward, invading the boy’s personal space. He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.” The boy flinched under the king’s stare and swallowed deeply while looking away. He stood in front of the angel of death and foolishly challenged him.“That’s what I thought.” He chuckled at the fright captured in the football player’s eyes. Without another glance, he began his way to class. 

“Where are you going?” Toni snarled while still in Sweet Pea’s arms. 

“Class, we can’t be late on our first day… Pea-”

“No, Jones. Sweets, Don’t you dare!”

“Pea, come on.” It made him laugh every time. The way that Sweet Pea threw the tiny girl over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Her hair flying in every direction as she squirmed in the unbothered boy's arms. They filled the halls with their loud laughs, even Toni joined in once she had grown tired. She mumbled a few “I hate you, Jones”, taking him back to the day he met the firey, little girl who strayed away from tea parties with barbies but rather would be found underneath a car covered in motor oil. Sweet Pea was the awkward, quiet kid whose head reached the clouds, quite literally and metaphorically. A boy whose heart was was too big for his own good and bled loyalty. 

Jughead’s eyes searched for the classroom addressed number 207. It was away from his friends and submerged in overachieving students, the honor roll kids, the annoyingly smart children who received more scholarships one could count. He, himself, was insanely intelligent, and yet he never bragged or flaunted it around like it was some prize to be won. He was quiet about it as it only revealed itself in the skills and smarts it takes to run the most feared gang of the century. In Southside High, he excelled in every department and grew bored of their easy teachings. 

Another bell sounded through the school, he assumed it was the late bell as the halls were deserted and faint whispers of lessons beginning could be heard through the closed classroom doors. Once he reached his classroom, he found a middle age woman dressed in anger as if a cloud hung above her head and only rained upon her. “You’re late.” she frowned at the student in front of her as her tone was laced with something hidden deeper, oblivious to the rest of the room, something resembling resentment. 

“I got lost,” He spoke softly as a small smirk spread across his face, eyes darker than a moonless night sky challenged her, daring her to unmask the hate she feels for him and everything he stands for. But she hadn’t, just as everyone who challenged the boy, she backed down averting her eyes to the students ahead of them in the process. 

His footsteps echoed around the room as he made his way to the back row. All eyes were upon him. Watching him intensely, as if they were all waiting for him to tip the glass, to shatter the perfect world around them with his darkness. He felt a familiar stare hit his face, making him scope the chairs only to find his favorite color captured in the eyes of the walking golden goddess herself, Betty Cooper.

He saw her clearer in the rays the sunlight provided through the large wall of windows. He saw her delicate eyelashes flutter under his stare, watched as her cheeks flushed red while she pulled her notorious glossy lip in between her teeth. He smirked that the thought of her taste and the way she clung to his frame as they drowned in one another the night before. Looking closer though, he noticed her wince at every smile and gently caress her cheekbone as if something pained her. He thought he saw faint coloring of a dirty black eye and a nasty cut show underneath the mask of her heavy makeup but she turned her head too fast for him to fully see anything.

Betty’s breath was gone the moment his boots stepped onto campus and her mind was long forgotten the second she heard his deep chuckle sound through the halls but nothing prepared her for the way that he looked at her, watching her more intensely than anyone ever has. As if he could see everything she hid in the deepest parts of her soul. The darkness didn’t scare her, the crown he bore didn’t either, but the way he watched her terrified her more than anything.

She thought she would be able to regain herself in AP English, away from him and her friends as it was a class full of upperclassmen but fate had other things in store for her. He walked late, holding his head high with his smirk cemented in place. Power fell in the wake of his combat boots as he walked to the back row, sitting only three desks to the right of her. She could see him perfectly and she cursed him for distracting her. She felt his ocean waves push against her, urging her to connect her eyes with his, yet she refused. Betty faced forward and never looked anywhere but at the words, Mrs. Carter wrote on the board, but that doesn’t mean she was paying any attention. 

“Mr. Jones… Jug-Head… Jones?!” The teacher watched him with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape while awaiting his attention. 

Betty turned to the boy in question, immediately meeting his gaze. His pencil rested in between his teeth while his feet were crossed as he kicked them upon his desk. A soft smile spread across his face as she watched him, along with the rest of the class, with amusement painted in her eyes. She raised her eyebrows while covering her delicate giggles. 

A loud slap sounded through the room, throwing Jughead back to reality and away from his thoughts. He cast his view away from the goddess and upfront towards an annoyed teacher. “What?” He shrugged in confusion. A soft laugh could be heard through the quiet that cloaked the room from Betty, making his heart skip a beat. 

“Mr. Jones,” Mrs. Carter closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. “I know you may not know how to do this, knowing where you come from, but please pay attention.”

Anger bubbled deep in his chest and he clicked his tongue as he was about to say something but was interrupted. 

“Excuse you! What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Betty’s usually gentle voice was raised and laced in fury. His eyebrows shot up at her act of defense. He felt the lines of his lips try and pull into a grin but he stopped himself as he scowled towards the woman before him.

“Nothing.” Is all she muttered as she turned away from the students and continued on with the lesson as if a scene had not just occurred. Betty sighed as she sat back in her chair once again. She twirled her bright, pink pen in between her fingers rather furiously, yet she didn’t realize how much so until she no longer felt it in her hand as it had flown behind her. She quickly turned to retrieve it only to find his dark storm clouds. Jughead had gotten out of his desk and was currently squatted in front of her. Their faces were so close, almost as close as they had been the night before, making the dreadful butterflies in her stomach rapidly flutter. 

“Here,” She felt his breath hit her, cloaking her in the smell of mint and cigarettes. He held a small smirk as he waited for her to take it yet she couldn’t move. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she drowned in him. She faintly heard him chuckle and tilt his head in amusement. “There you go, Blondie.” She was brought back into reality by the touch of his rough fingers swipe against her chin. He stood and placed her pen back atop her desk walking off with the shake of his head. 

She took a deep breath as she slowly faced forward. She blamed the way his tongue felt against her, the way he raked through his raven hair, the way his rough fingers felt so warm on her soft skin. But most of all, she blamed the chaos trapped in his eyes. Whether it be a strong, dark storm or harsh, beating ocean waves, she would undeniably drown every single time. 

The bell rang, startling the girl from her thoughts. Betty quickly grabbed her things and ran out the door, away from him and everything she was trying not to feel. She tried to slow her breathing, to calm her heart, and to kill every last one of the butterflies swarming her stomach. 

The rest of the day was filled with whispers about the newcomers, especially of their king. She tried to dodge him at every turn for she was scared of him but not for the reasons her friends were. When she was eating with Kevin and Veronica, she pushed away from the thought of defending Jughead when they accused him of being cruel and ignorant. When she was at cheer and heard Ginger whispering that she thought he was beyond hot and how she was going to be the future ‘Serpent Queen’, Betty denied herself of feeling the burn of jealousy. He was the king and she could never fall for a boy like that, no matter how many times she drowns. She attempted to convince herself he was just a boy from the southside who meant nothing to her. 

After practice, Betty was coated in sweat and immediately jumped in the shower once she reached her room. Thankfully, no one noticed her makeup get smudged and her bruise begin to peek out, nor did they notice her wince in pain at every dance move she made. The hot water blended in with the tears that began to stream down her face. It was like releasing a damn, everything she pent up and blocked from the world broke over and twirled down the drain along with her shampoo.

Goosebumps spread across her body as she shut the water off and stepped out into the cold air that filled her bathroom. She watched herself in the mirror as she readied herself for another sleepless night. With one more glance towards her reflection filled with heavy under eye bags and dark bruises, she slipped in between her silk sheets. 

Something foreign tickled against her leg making her uncover her blankets to find the forgotten crown. She felt a weight lift from her chest as she placed it on her shoulders. A warmth spread through her body as she lay there once again wrapped in it. Her eyes willingly closed and all her worries faded into the darkness that consumed her. 

Yet, this night was not filled with his storm, nor his waves. It was filled with their howls and slaps. She was there again, cornered in the dark alley. His eyes promised her pain and fear. She felt his slap and the feeling of coming in contact with the dirt. Unlike last time, she didn’t hear them run but grow closer. A rough hand tugged her hair forcing her to stare into his black beady eyes as he grinned a ruthless, chilling smile. 

She woke up screaming so hard her throat began to feel raw. Tears stained her porcelain skin as they vigorously rushed down her face. Her heart pounded hard against her chest as she gasped for the breath that she couldn’t seem to acquire. What she hadn’t yet registered was that there was a comforting weight holding her, protecting her from the cold the wind brought in through her now open window. 

Once her breath grew steady and her tears stopped, she heard a voice whisper in her ear. “Shhhh.” Panic once again flooded her veins and she broke from the person before her, jumping to her full height. Little moonlight shone through her curtains, giving her no help in discovering who sat on her sheets. She could only make out a strong, tall silhouette but moving closer she saw a flash of raven curls. “Betts…” It was barely audible but it was lace with a gentle and caring tone. While the nickname was new and unknown, she would know that voice anywhere. 

“Jughead?!” She turned towards her bedside to see the time was late, as it around 2 in the morning. Nothing could be heard throughout the night for the town was cloaked in a deep slumber. She flicked the lamp on, giving her the light she needed to see the king. He still bore his grey shirt and dark jeans, looking just as he did when he left school earlier that day. 

Worry overcame the young boy’s face as he saw what she had been hiding all along. A small bruise ran along her cheekbone, as well as a tiny cut embedded inside it. He knew what caused it before he even asked as every hit leaves a mark whether it is noticeable or not. Furry conquered his worry. “What the hell happened to you,” He spoke slowly, piercing her with his dark eyes. He watched as she turned away from the light that unmasked her pain. 

“Why are you here?” She didn’t meet his eyes but averted her gaze to the moon instead. She felt as he stood to his full height, towering over her frame and forcing her to look at him. The storm threatened to kill yet she somehow knew that was not directed towards her.

“Betty Cooper, who fucking laid a hand on you,” She couldn’t find the power in her to tell him. She felt so many contradicting emotions for the king. Some part of her wanted to spill everything to him as she swam in his waves. While the other, stronger part of her held the wall in place, blocking him and everyone else from her imperfections. 

“Why are you here, Jones?” She almost stomped her foot in the anger that swarmed her body. He had the audacity to come into her room and order demands. She pierced him with her evergreen forest, wincing as pain shot through her cheek. She watched as his face soften and worry once again clouded over his summer waves. 

“Betts… What happened?” She felt the cold metal of his ring as he laid a gentle hand along her jaw, tilting her head so the moon shined upon the bruise. She felt her wall crack at the frown and tone he held, but it came crashing down once she met his eyes. Eyes so full of concern it almost scared her. 

“Last night… I-I got jumped in the southside by some men,” She looked towards her bare feet and spoke in a small voice. He ripped his rough fingers from her, making her feel colder than ice. His eyes held no emotion, darker than the devil himself, as he started towards her window but she grabbed the front of his shirt, demanding him to be cemented in place. He stared forward, avoiding her altogether. Betty reached up and cupped his face, watching as something flashed through the iris of his eye but she couldn’t quite catch it for it left as fast it had come. She forced him to meet her green, “Where are you going?” 

She could tell he was fighting himself as she knew he wasn’t used to having to explain his actions. She stroked his cheek, as she felt him melt against her touch and lean into her hand. He closed his tired eyes and released a strained breath. “I need to find and kill them for what they did to you.” 

A bolt of lightning struck his clam, cloudless sky as he stared at her. “Jug… you don’t even know what they look like,” A small smile tugged against her lips as her heart fluttered in her chest. 

“It doesn’t matter,” He torn himself from her touch and began to climb through her window but a small voice stopped him. 

“No… please stay.” Jughead turned towards the girl, seeing fear cloud her wide eyes. “I… I don’t want to sleep by myself tonight.” Her voice was small as she whispered to the moon rather than him. Seeing her in pain terrified him for he somehow knew he would burn a thousand cities if it meant it would protect her. He would have left, but the way that she watched him made him climb back into her room. 

Betty walked back towards her bed and slipped between the sheets, but not before she turned the light off letting her room fall dark. He, once again, stood as a silhouette before her but she could still watch him unlace his boots. The bed fell under his weight as he climbed in next to her. She released a shaky breath, making sure she left space between the two of them. At that action, he turned his head towards her and she felt his stare as he raked her body.

“Come here,” Jughead whispered while a strong arm wrapped around Betty, pulling her into him. Their legs tangled and he rested his rough fingers on the skin of her waist, spreading warmth through her body. Her head grew heavy making her rest it ontop his chest. She heard his heartbeat speed and felt the movement of each breath he took. 

They laid there in a comfortable silence, eyes closed and breathe mended together. “Jug?” She turned her head towards him, seeing the lines of his face calm for the first time since she met him. 

“Hm?” She felt the vibrations against her cheek as he left his eyes closed. 

“How’d you know where I lived?” Curiosity laced her voice as she awaited his response. 

She watched at the corner of his lips turned up into a sleepy smirk. “Babe, I’m the king. I know everything,” Her giggles were quiet and filled with sleep. She observed him and wondered how she ended up wrapped in her sheets with the devil himself. “I can feel you looking at me, close your eyes. I’m right here, Betts.” 

Jughead lifted his hand and stroked her golden locks till he felt her breath grow heavy. He peeked down at the girl tangled around him, smiling at the situation he got himself into. He hadn’t slept in more than a day and the lack of sleep was catching up to him; making his eyes fall shut and leaving the pair to dream of light, calm waves washing up onto the shore of an evergreen rainforest. 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u! 
> 
> I would love to hear your feedback or favorite part(s)!!!!!!! 
> 
> kudos and comments are highly praised, trust me.
> 
> love you all, xoxo


	3. aches and shivers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty awoke alone in a cold bed. Gone was the king who dried her tears and spread warmth through her body. Now she must survive the six hours of school with his stare burning into her skin and her body aching for his touch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter I've ever written so I am very sorry about the wait! 
> 
> I can't wait to read every comment and blush at every kudos! I love you all so much! Thank you for everything!!!!!!!

Betty doesn’t remember her dreams, only the nightmares that scar themselves in the back of her brain. Terrifying her that in any waking moment they could become her reality. That at any instant Veronica would find the crescents embedded in her palms or her mother would find her falling through her window reeking of alcohol in the middle of the night. She never remembers the happy ones, filled with laughter and love, just as everyone talks about. Sometimes, she fears she never will dream of that and that every night her anxiety will haunt her, destroying every bit of happiness. 

Except, last night she had remembered. She remembered calm waves beating against the shore of an evergreen rainforest. The sky overhead was painted with billions of stars, reminding her that she wasn’t all alone in the world. The moon hung above her, providing light to protect her from anything of harm hidden in the shadows of the night. She felt safe and warm against the sand as it wiggled its way in between her bare toes. She didn’t know where she was or how she ended up there but she did know she never wanted to leave. Betty remembers when the moon suddenly fell from the sky and vanished from her sight. The waves, that once brushed against her, had stopped and the ocean fell still before her. She should have felt frightened about what happened, but instead, all she remembers is the feeling of reassurance for she knew the moon would soon return to her and the waves would cloak her body once more. 

Betty awoke to a cold and empty bed. Gone was the boy that constantly clouded her mind with his sinful smirks and intoxicating touch. Her sheets covered her and her window was sealed shut. There were no traces of him, making her almost believe the King had never slipped into her room and dried her tears the night before. Almost, for she still felt the ghost of his fingers against her skin and the way they stroked her hair till sleep overcame her, reassuring her of the fact that he had been with her. 

Betty uncovered herself and arose from her bed. She stumbled to her bathroom, immediately splashing her face with water to help wake her up. That’s when she realized it. There, staring back at her, was her worst nightmare. Embarrassment flooded her cheeks red at the realization of the fact that she still bore his leather. 

“No, no, no!” She mumbled to her reflection. She tried to recall if she ever took it off but came up with nothing. Meaning, that when he soothed her cries, watched her in the moonlight, and held her in his arms she had been wearing his second skin as if it were her own. The whole entire time. Not to mention, because his visit was unexpected, she had never changed from her pajamas. All she stood in was her dad’s old wife beater and her small spandex shorts, that were non-visible under the length of her shirt. She fought against her dying urge to crawl into a deep, dark hole and never see Jughead Jones’s face again. 

“Elizabeth, do you have my blow drier?” Her mother’s voice grew closer as she heard her footsteps near her bedroom door. Betty’s eyes grew large in fear of being found dressed in the angel of death’s wings. She frantically tore the leather from her skin, causing goosebumps to race down her body from the cold she suddenly felt. Her mother walked in just as she threw the jacket under her covers. Alice stared at her daughter suspiciously, her eyes searched every line of her face, narrowing when she saw something peculiar. She stood with her arms crossed while one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows arched. Betty felt her heart race and lungs begin to protest under her glare. “What the hell happened to your eye?”

Almost automatically, her hand rose to her cheek and graced her cut gently. “Oh! I went to go to the bathroom last night and tripped and hit my face on the corner of my bedside table.” The lie slipped through her lips before she even registered what she was saying. Betty Cooper was an excellent lair for she used her innocent image to her advantage as no one would think the god sent angel would ever do anything bad. 

She saw Alice narrow her eyes while she decided whether she believed her daughter or not. “Well cover it up, it looks ugly,” She scrunched her face in disgust as she made her way to the bathroom. Betty shot daggers to her mother’s back, oblivious to the woman who was now rummaging through her drawers. “And Elizabeth?” That one word, one name, held so much power over the young girl. It had a way of making her feel like she was nothing but an ant in a world too large for her to ever be anything. 

“Yes, mother,” She closed her eyes and counted to ten as she awaited her response. The burning urge to dig her manicure into the sore flesh of her palms flowed through her veins, but she restrained by placing them flat on her thighs. 

“Don’t be so clumsy next time,” She flashed her a bright smile as her words cut into her daughter's skin, just as it was meant to do. 

With the sound of her door closing, Betty released a breath that she didn’t know she had been holding in. She looked down towards her hands and felt her throat tighten at the sight of the blood that threatened to drop. Yet, she swallowed it away while locking her sadness in a vault hidden in the darkest part of her soul, one that was stored to the brim of her unreleased feelings. 

It wasn’t long before 7:45 am and the honk of a white Mercedes sounded from her driveway, as if on cue. Watching herself in the mirror, She noticed how she looked rested for the bags under her eyes, that usually took an extra five minutes to cover, were gone. Betty didn’t remember the last time the dark circles weren’t staining her porcelain skin. With a small smile, she began to stuff her textbooks into her school bag, stopping when something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. 

The sleeve of his leather was peeking out from underneath her silk, almost screaming for someone to find it. She uncovered her sheets and grabbed the jacket as she began to put it in another hidden place when she flinched at the loud, long honk she heard from an impatient Veronica Lodge. “Shoot,” Betty stuffed everything into her bag in her flustered rush and ran down the stairs without even a wave to her mother. 

With the sound of the passenger door shutting, Ronnie slammed her Louis Vuitton heel against the gas, muttering a “What the hell took you so long, B?” The question was left unanswered as Kevin jumped up releasing a sharp gasp. At that, Veronica’s attention on the Betty was quickly disregarded. The drive was quick, filled with more rumors of the infamous Serpents. It was the biggest scandal to happen to the town since John Davis and Brittney Smith were caught having sex in a very public gym, but this wasn’t just some high school drama. It was history, the North and South finally connect after 60 years of hatred. It was already the newest conversationalist topic, instead of saying “the weather looked nice today” it was “did you hear the drug dealing kids transferred to Riverdale High?” The whispers were never going to stop. 

Kevin, Veronica, and Betty exited the now parked car and walked toward the doors of their school. “B, did you do the Biology homewo-” The sound of loud engines cut off whatever the boy was trying to say to the girl. She felt the vibrations of their motors flow through her veins as she saw them pull into the parking lot. Four dark angels dressed in leather as their wings were lead by a boy who bore a knit crown as his horns. She could see his piercing blue eyes through the lens of his helmet, it was the only color he wore. Dressed in black as if he had adapted to his own darkness. 

It was almost like she was underwater. Everything around her was muffled and all she heard was her own heartbeat crashing against her ribcage. Jughead parked his motorcycle directly in front of her view; she somehow knew it was just in spite of her for when he ripped his helmet off the first thing his eyes caught were her emerald ones. His raven locks looked messy from the restriction it just freed itself from, making her fingers flinch with their burning desire to rake through their softness. He knew how much he was affecting her and relished in it, she could tell in the way he held himself; head high with his notorious smirk in place. 

“Betty Cooper!” She winced at the tone her best friend obtained towards her as she fell out of the trance he drowned her in. Veronica held her mouth agape and her threaded eyebrow raising to the sky. “What is with you, B?” Irritation dripped through her voice. 

Under the glare of her best friend, Betty’s brain was short-circuiting. She fumbled with anything to come up with but all she could think about was the feeling of his stare burning into her back. She knew she looked stupid, staring with her mouth wide open, eyes large. “I-” She looked down towards her feet, breathing in a deep sigh once she looked back up. “Look, I’m really sorry… mom’s just been a bit harder on me about my grades and I guess it’s distracting me.” 

She watched as her best friends face fell, covered in concern and something almost mirroring pity. “Oh Gosh, B! I’m so sorry!” Her hands flew to her mouth in an attempt to cover her loud gasp as she promised the girl that they would get to enjoy a “day full of cucumber slices and expensive face masks that Daddy swore he would get me”. Betty smiled as she was engulfed in a tight hug and laughed when Kevin became offended. “Oh shut up!” Veronica grabbed the boy by his ear, yanking him in between the two. She couldn’t hold back the ripples that boomed through her chest, warming her heart as she captured the moment, storing it with her small pile of cherished memories. 

 

“Come on, let’s get to class before we’re late.” Grabbing her friends, Betty continued her way to class. Purposely swaying her hips with each step she took as she was fully aware of his eyes piercing into her skin. Goosebumps littering her arms, craving a touch that only one boy could heal. She felt the ghost of his warmth pulsing through her veins. Every limb in her body was aching for him, screaming for her to turn around but she ignored it, forcing herself to Biology. 

The instant he drove onto campus, Jughead saw her forest green sweater in the crowd of people surrounding the entrance to his new school. He smirked when her eyes finally caught his and her attention was lost. The boy felt himself drown in the feeling of pride for the fact that he could have such an effect on a living beauty like Betty. Seeing her once again reminded him of the last time he saw her. 

Jughead remembered waking up to the chirping of birds and the sunrise painting along the features of his face. He felt his heart quicken and his eyes search the foreign pink surroundings frantically till he fell upon her face. Everything came flooding back to his dozed brain, from feeling the dampness of his shirt as she cried in his arms to drowning in her breathtaking eyes as she pleaded for him to stay. 

She looked like an angel in her deep slumber. Her golden locks were sprayed across the sheets of her bed, looking untamed as the wild curls tangled together. It was the exact opposite of everything her image stood for. He saw the peek of his leather from underneath the silk of her sheets as it clung to her small frame. Her soft porcelain skin, one that was designed to be dressed in the prettiest of pastels, stood in contrast to his rough and worn jacket. 

That was the whole reason he was in this damn mess, to retrieve the thing she ran off with. His title. His crown. His wings. His father noticed the second he stepped into the house, screaming that he was “a fucking retarded bastard” for losing it. Of course, he only thought that Jughead had lost it in the heat of the dancing bodies at the party. He didn’t, and would never, know it was stolen by a girl who possessed a beauty that he never knew was possible. 

So, the boy used his connections and found a suburban home on the Northside with a red mailbox labeled COOPERS in big block letters. Jughead saw an old, splintered ladder leading into a window to the right of the house. Hopping the white-picket fence, he heard a piercing outcry break through the silence of the night. With adrenaline pulsing through his veins, the boy flew in the room submerged in darkness. He heard her; the way she pleaded and cried into the void. Under the moonlight, he saw flashes of Betty’s delicate face choking on her own tears running down her cheeks. He couldn’t remember walking over to her, just that he held the heat of her body against his to help her understand that he was there. 

That’s when he felt his familiar leather brush against the bare skin of his arms and that's when he realized it no longer smelt of him. But of her and the strawberries and honey, she intoxicated him with. 

Jughead sighed when he remembered looking back to the sun that beckoned his return. He had moved to slip from the comfort of her but she suddenly whimpered at the loss. Her lips fell to form a pout as she subconsciously clung to the collar of his shirt, burying her face against the skin of his neck. The feeling of her warm breath tickling him made goosebumps travel down his body. He felt his heart jump at every exhale and he closed his eyes while grasping the hand she rested upon his chest. He drew soft circles along her fingers as he laid there in heartache for he knew he couldn’t stay forever, no matter how much he desired to do so. He turned once more to meet her dainty face. The bruising along her cheekbones made his heart squeeze in his chest and a fire of fury light against the darkness of his soul. He clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes as his hand swept it. He took every inch of her in, every line of her skin, every feature she carried and stored it in the back of his mind. 

He lifted himself from her, painfully disregarding her wines, as he laced his boots. He saw the way she held his jacket for dear life without him beside her. He knew he should have taken what he came for as he needed his crown but somehow he knew she needed it more than him at that moment. Jughead pulled her blankets over her cold body and bid Juliet a faint goodbye before vanishing back to his kingdom. 

Her eyes caught his as she flashed a blinding smile his way, one that could light up thousands of cities on end, pulling him out from his trance. Watching her leave with the way her hips swayed and the confidence that overcame her body made him mentally insane. Jughead itched to run past the swarm of people crowding the building and feel the heat of her soft skin against his. He knew he would forever be cold without her light, and yet he also knew if he stayed too close he would corrupt her with his overbearing darkness. But oh god did she make him crazy and she knew it too. He could tell by the way her lips turned up when she walked past him or when she’d bite her unbelievably glossy lips. 

Betty Cooper was the most dangerous thing Jughead Jones had ever met. The sharp knives the ghoulies swung at the king, the broken beer bottle fights, and the flying bullets that grazed the boy daily stood no match to the girl. The amount of power she possessed over him was deadly for he would drown every ocean, burn thousands of cities, and turn the world upside down if she asked. 

“Jones, are you coming?” Sweet Pea stood at the stairs leading into the entrance of Riverdale High. 

“Yeah… yeah, I’m coming,” He mumbled as he swung his bag onto his shoulder while avoiding the confused glances his serpents sent his way. 

Math had always come easily to the boy for his brain worked faster than normal. He could calculate when something was going to happen quickly whether it be when the bullet was going to pass him or what time lunch started. Every teacher in Southside High knew he was destined for better education, he deserved a place where he could be challenged, but the northside could never understand that a boy from the wrong side of the tracks may have a working, useful brain. Every northside teacher hated Jughead before his boot even graced the title of their classrooms, especially Mr. Dunnley. He couldn’t grasp the fact that he could calculate the problem faster than him, even when his brain was elsewhere dreaming of how the sunrise looked painted on the face of a beauty named Betty Cooper. The man was on his twelfth equation when the bell signaled lunch. Jughead bid him a fair well with a dark chuckle at the smoke that threatened to explode from his ears. 

All eyes were on him as a cold silence fell upon the halls, the only sound that could be heard was every time his boot made contact with the hardwood floors. Fear dripped through their faces and bodies tensed at the sight of the king as if he could kill one with the gaze of his dark storm clouds. A giggle shattered through the air as if it were glass. Everyone searched for the person who would dare laugh in front of the boy who was more sinful than Lucifer himself. They fell upon the back of a blonde ponytail. 

Betty had just finished listening to a boring lecture from her Biology teacher. One that she couldn’t comprehend as Jughead’s voice was playing on repeat in her brain, drowning out everything around her. She met Kevin outside her classroom the second the bell rang, instantly comforted by the soft smile he sent her as if he could read the tension in her shoulders. They walked hand in hand towards the student lounge. He had finished telling her about the story of how he went to sit down in class but made contact with the cold floor instead when the silence fell. The image of what Kevin’s face must have looked like, his eyebrows raised up towards the sky and his mouth wide open, popped into her mind, making a giggle form in her chest and bubble through her lips. 

She sucked in a shuddered breath as she looked into the eyes of her best friend. She saw how instead of them being engulfed in light, they were drowning in fear. She listened to the sound of boots grow closer. She knew who it was before she even turned to face him as only one person could arise stillness in the hallways of Riverdale High. She closed her eyes in dread of seeing his smirk, especially after him seeing her dressed in nothing but her small pajamas and his leather. 

When she opened her eyes, she was met with dozens of stares but there was only one stare that made the butterflies awaken in her stomach. Jughead was walking towards her with amusement flooding his features and his signature smirk spread along the lines of his lips. She averted his storm as he came to a stop in front of her. Betty felt the gentle touch of Kevin’s hand against her forearm. She could almost see the terror captured in the young boy’s face. 

She saw movement in the corner of her eye, making her look towards the fallen angel in front of her. She watched as his tongue peeked from his mouth and sweep against the chapped skin of his lips. At that, her emerald green meant his raging storm. The storm that calmed to a cloudless blue sky the instant it met her forest. A ghost of the soft smile, a smile he only reserved for a girl immersed in pastel, spread across his features. She knew that she was the only one who saw it. And the only one who saw calm summer waves when everyone else saw an enraged ocean that promised death and a cloudless sky when everyone saw a dark and dangerous storm that assured destruction. 

She could tell he wanted to do something, it was written in the lines of his face. The way his fingers flinched in her direction. The way he swallowed, making his Adam's apple bob in his throat. He was stretched to his full height and peered down to her, for she knew he couldn’t dare to fully look at her. She was scared that he could read her pleads of him in the lines of her face as she could his. She wanted to be engulfed in his scent as he shielded her from the light that burned her, the ponytails that pulled at her scalp and the sweaters that scratched against her soft skin. Yet, she knew she couldn’t. All eyes were on them, watching to see what the angel of death was going to do to the golden girl of Riverdale. 

Something caught his attention over her shoulder, making him break from her stare and his body visibly tense. She watched as he brushed past her without even a glance her way. She felt the warmth of his skin, once again, pulse through her body. Goosebumps erupted in his wake and a shaky breath escaped her lips as she downcasted her view to her white sneakers. She could barely hear the whispers that vented through the room over the thudding her heart created. Her chest was rising and falling fast as she couldn’t find air, as if he had taken it from her when he left. She felt the burning of glares sent from her peers but she didn’t care for she was trying to kill the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. 

“What the hell was that?” Betty heard the voice of her friend that bore pearls and money around her neck. She knew the question wasn’t directed toward her for Veronica was facing the direction that Jughead walked off too. 

She lifted her head to the blur of leather to find him encircled by snakes. She watched as he released a deep chuckle, one that she couldn’t hear from the noise surrounding her, yet it played in the back of her mind as if she could. He caught her stare. She observed as his chest rose into a small sigh. She felt her lips tug up and a deep blush stain her cheeks. She knew it was the reason for the infamous smirk he sent her way. Followed by a wink, one that made her knees become weak and face turn crimson. Jughead left her sight as he turned the corner with his Serpents with a laugh rumbling through his body. 

“-and he just stood there, in front of her… he didn’t do anything but stare at her. Oh God, I was terrified that he was going to slap her or something with the way he was looking at her!” Once Betty had fallen back into her surroundings, she heard her friends talking amongst themselves. 

“What?! Oh my God, B!” Veronica turned towards the girl and grabbed the sides of her face as if to fully make sure that the devil didn’t leave a mark against her delicate skin. She was engulfed in a tight hug as her best friend whispered useless consoles into her ear. It almost made her laugh at the concern her friends showed towards her or the fact that they would believe the boy would ever harm her. When in contrast, he was the only person that made her feel safe. Someone who held her together when she felt pieces of herself breaking apart and falling onto the sheets of her bedspread. A boy who shaded her with his darkness from the light that stung her dainty skin. Yet, she knew they would never understand for they didn’t see past his image, just as they couldn’t see past hers. 

Ronnie let go rather stubbornly as she insured the girl that she was okay and safely away from the boy who caused the town to tremble in his wake. Betty giggled at the wide chocolate eyes staring back at her, swimming in worry. “Come on,” She said in one of the many laughs that rippled through her throat.

The three friends found themselves in the spot hidden in the corner of the student lounge, just as they do every day. Betty began eating the minimal snacks her mother stuffed into her pale, pink backpack when a boy came and sat on the table across from her. “Hey, Betty.” He smiled at her. 

“Hi, Trevor,” His smile grew at the sound of her voice. 

“Did you get the homework from Mrs. Win?” Betty was about to answer her classmate when she saw something familiar in the corner of her eye. A flood of darkness entered the room and she instantly caught the eyes of their leader. She watched as a smile began to pull at his lips but quickly change into a scowl when he looked to her right. “Betty?” She averted her eyes from Jughead to see Trevor searching her face as his smile slightly dimmed from her lack of attention. 

“Huh-Oh Gosh! I’m so sorry what did you say?” Her mother’s years of manners finally kicked in making her flood with guilt. 

“I asked if you got the Biology homework.”

“Oh, yes I did,” She flashed the boy her signature smile as she desperately tried to keep her eyes from straying back to the brewing king. The king who was making her body flustered under the heat of his piercing stare. 

“Great, well I was wondering if you would like to go to pops and… I don’t know... work on it together sometime? Maybe, I could help you if you need any,” Trevor beamed at the girl in front of him. 

“Oh, no thank you. I actually understand everything really well but if I need any help I’ll ask you,” Betty was becoming obvious the scene in front of her as her skin began to itch for the devil’s touch. He shouldn’t be allowed to watch her with so much intensity. 

“Oh… uh, okay… I-I guess I’ll see you around then?” Trevor averted her eyes as he walked off, leaving the question to float into the void unanswered. 

Betty just scrunched her eyebrows as she ate her pretzels. She spared a glance towards Jughead, watching as he became visibly calmer but his eyes held raging ocean waves. She tilted her head in confusion as she deflected her gaze before his stare connected with hers.

“B!” Kevin spilled some popcorn onto the floor as he jumped up. He walked closer and sat where Trevor was moments before, staring at her with wide eyes. 

Betty answered with a simple “Kev?” as her facial features scrunched together. She watched as her two best friends turned to each other, gasping and scoffing at her. “B, isn’t Trevor cute?” Confusion flooded the girls face as she looked over to Veronica. She could hear the amusement laced in her tone and almost see the plan brewing in her head. 

“Veronica, no.” Her voice was a warning to anyone but Veronica Lodge. She was persistent and extremely stubborn, always getting what she wanted. A spoiled, rich girl born with pearls around her neck and a silver spoon in her mouth. One of her many hobbies is to throw guys the blonde’s way, no matter who it may be. She believed it was her duty to find love for her best friend and Betty found it nice at first but after a few years her nagging began to grow on her nerves. 

“Oh come on! He’s cute,” She smiled mischievously as she popped one of her grapes into her mouth. 

“And he literally just asked you on a date!” Kevin might have just exclaimed that to the whole town as people turned towards the noise. She turned crimson when she felt his gaze against the side of her face. She laid her hands flat on her thighs to resist the burning desire to penetrate her skin as the feeling of frustration and embarrassment mixed together in her chest. 

“He did not, he asked if I needed help as a kind friend,” She narrowed her eyes to her friends as she whispered while enunciating the last word with the flick of her tongue as fury began to burn in the pit of her stomach. 

“No! He asked you on a date because he likes you, Betty!” Again, glances were thrown her way but this time whispers followed. 

“Keep your voice down,” She looked towards the stare that made her body ache. His storm clouds were cast and brewing roughly. She could see his muscles tense under his shirt and his scowl deepen with every word he heard. “Date or no date I’m not going.” She brought her eyes back to her friends. 

“Betty Cooper you haven’t been on a date in years, let alone come close to the opposite gender. Why not go out with a nice and cute boy?” 

She could have sworn that flames could be seen in the iris of her eyes, even Veronica averted her gaze. She wanted to scream that she didn’t want the nice boy. The boy that her mother would love and adored her image alone. Who would be repulsed if she’d come home with blood on her hands. Who would fall for the ponytail and sweater. She wanted someone who would stop the light from burning her. Who would rip up her sweaters and throw her hair ties away. Who wouldn’t let her watch the sink turn crimson and would hold her hand and become the barrier she needed to stop herself from cutting her raw flesh. But she repressed it all with a short and stern “No,” while grabbing her stuff and leaving a fire of fury to spread like wildfire in her wake. 

Her body sightly calmed the second she felt the cold hardwood against her back as she fell to the floor of the Blue and Gold. She fluttered her eyelashes close as she began to clear the storm clouds threatening to spill down her cheeks. She looked down towards her hands and smiled at the sight of not seeing her least favorite color, red. The squeak of the old door made the girl tense as she waited to see pearls and soft apologetic smiles. Yet, instead, she saw a flash of raven hair and a worn knit crown. 

The instant her forest met the ocean waves it’s been awaiting her chest felt light as the butterflies flew against her stomach, once again. The muscle in his jaw clenched as he searched her face while a comfortable silence hung in the air. Jughead leaned against the back of the door while playing with the toothpick that rested between his chapped lips. She lifted herself from the ground, only to sit atop the desk that was placed a few feet away from the boy, feeling the heat he caused as his eyes followed every movement. She watched as his storm brewed above her head, threatening to pour upon her as the sun hid between the dark clouds. “Jug?” It was just a small whisper that broke from her lips as worry overcame her features. A ray of sunlight slipped from his clouds as his face softened for a second before the storm killed it and his body tensed, once again. 

“Blondie, you should probably give me my jacket back before your boyfriend sees it,” His voice held no emotion as she felt his cold rain hit her face, cloaking her body in the products of the storm above. Gone was his smug expression and the calm waves that brushed against her body. He was back to being the king who sat on a throne of fear. Who was colder than ice and at the sound of his voice could make one plea on their knees for mercy. 

“Seriously, Jughead?” A scoff fell from her soft lips as her eyes narrowed at the boy before her. She turned towards her bag and ripped the leather from her possession. She held it in her hands as they shook in anger towards the fallen angel. One would was surrounded in fire but instead of burning her, his flames made her feel alive. Cloaked in his wicked darkness that healed the inter scars embedded in the lines of her soul. Who drowned her time and time again in the dark storms and rough oceans captured in the iris of his eye. She swallowed back the pain raising in her chest and felt her heart freeze over. “Here,” Betty shoved the jacket hard against the chest she laid on top of just hours before. The impact made the boy stumble back into the wall. 

“And just for the hell of it, Jughead Jones, he’s not my boyfriend but you didn’t ask me, did you? NO, you assumed… and even if I did have a boyfriend, you really think I’m the type of girl to cheat? How low do you think of me, huh?” She saw the king of the Southside Serpents, ruler of the most dangerous gang of New York, a boy who’s been written in the lines of history books for the fear his aroused in thousands of people, flinch at the words she spit at him. He kept his eyes trained on one spot above her head, never daring to look down at the furious girl below him. “You know I thought you were different… better than all the fake people I have to deal with every day. The ones who trap me in a life I don’t want to live in anymore. I thought you real! I t-thought… I-” 

“I’m a Serpent! I’m the fucking king for fucks sakes, Betty! I’m the worst thing for you. I would do nothing but hurt to you! Don’t you get that? You think this could have worked?” A chilling laugh escaped his lips and blew against her face as he leaned down to her level. That’s when she saw them. They were black; cold and dead. No waves nor storm in sight, just a pitch black night. “You’re perfect, you belong with a football jock who can take you out on dates and meet your parents. Not someone like me, Betty Cooper.” 

She hadn’t realized that as he spoke she had taken several steps back and was, yet again, a few feet away from him. “You think I care that you’re the Serpent king? It doesn’t matter-”

“But it does!” There. There at that moment, she saw what she had been hoping for. A speck of pain flashed through his eyes. And for a fraction of a second, she saw lighting strike against his sky as rain fell like bullets till it went to a sinister black once more. 

Confusion flooded his features as she shortened the distance between the two till their chest were just centimeters apart. He was fighting. Fighting against her but mostly himself. Closing his eyes for she knew he feared the waves would come back and he would have to feel the emotion he was desperately trying to run from. She reached up and held his face in the palms of her hands, watching as he didn’t dare to meet her forest. “Juggie.” 

Jughead felt her delicate whisper against his face. He knew she was only a few inches below him, making his lips part as his breath grew heavy. When she rubbed her thumb against his cheekbone, he fiercely fought against the tightness growing in his throat. He felt his whole body react to her simple touch as goosebumps traveled down his arms. His fingers flinched in the fist he held them in, desperate for the feeling of her soft skin. 

He was about to break from the heat of her touch and leave the angel forever till he felt the pressure of her lips against his. It was intoxicating. Made his head grow light and his hunger for her heightened with every second that passed. Strawberries drenched in honey flooded his taste buds as her tongue rubbed against his, making a growl escape his throat and vibrate through her whole body; from her lips to her toes. 

Betty felt the desk as they backed into it and his hands as he suddenly gripped her thighs, picking her up and letting her land on top of the hardwood. A sharp gasp fell from her breaking their connection. The two smiled into each other as they fed their hunger and reconnected, making their teeth clash, yet neither seem to mind. Jughead pulled her legs apart and settled in between them resulting in a blush to stain her cheeks. Betty felt his teeth sink into her bottom lip as her hands tugged his curls, removing his crown in the process. A mewl slipped from her lips and against his as his tongue swiped the spot his teeth were a second before. She felt his smirk, making her almost picture it in her head. 

The cold metal of his ring traveled against her jaw as he pulled the two apart and tilted her head upwards, leaving a trail of sloppy kisses down the side of her neck. She tugged at his shirt and pulled him towards her when she felt his lips suck at her skin. The second his tongue darted against it, a dreadful sound filled the halls of the school. The bell signaled five minutes till the next class started. 

A giggle was released from her throat as he whined and laid his head on the curve of her neck. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as she played with the hair on the back of his head. A muffled “Do we have to go?” could barely be heard over the rapid beating of two teenage hearts. 

Betty smiled as goosebumps spread down her arms at the feeling of his voice vibrating through her. “Yeah.” 

“Are you sure about that?” His voice was husky as the devil began to kiss along the angel’s neck once more. Her eyes closed at the feeling as she felt herself drown in him. He made her feel like she could see the moon from the 230,000 miles that separate her from it. The butterflies in her stomach grew to a fluttering mess each time she felt his tongue, making her drown in the taste of mint and cigarettes. Something she’d greatly craved since the second they connected the first time.

All she wanted to do was stay lost in the moment with him but she knew she couldn’t. Betty grabbed his jaw and faced him. The action stopped him from leaving dark marks upon her porcelain skin causing a fake frown for fall across his gloss stained lips. His nose brushed against hers as she closed her eyes, smiling at the lightness in her heart and the feeling of pure happiness pulsing through her veins. “We have to go,” She spoke though neither made a move to leave. She breathed his scent as she leaned in and pecked his lips once more before patting his chest and breaking from the heat of his body altogether. 

Betty leaned down and grabbed her stuff, throwing it over her shoulder as she turned to the boy. A smug expression fell across his features as his eyes traveled to the side of her neck he was attached to moments before. She watched as his tongue peaked from the corner of his mouth while his eyebrows raised. “What?” She stepped closer as she faintly giggled, which only made his smirk grow. “What are you looking at?” 

Jughead didn’t answer but instead rubbed his thumb along a sensitive spot on her neck. The realized dawned on her. “Jughead Jones, did you give me a hickey?!” His smirk broke into an innocent smile as a deep chuckle escaped his lips. “No, it’s -stop- it’s not funny,” She tried to be angry at the boy who just cost her to be five minutes late to class for having to cover the bruise with concealer but desperately failed as giggles ripped through her. A blush stained her cheeks at the way he looked at her. Calm ocean waves brushed along her body reminding her of the hot summer days when the sun would beat down upon her. “I’m going to kill you, Jones,” Her tone was laced in amusement as a bright and genuine smile spread across her features.

“Sorry,” He held a sloppy smirk as his thumbs brushed against her jawline while she craned her neck to view the boy fully. With the shake of her head, Betty turned around to leave only to pulled back against his warm lips. They shared the kiss as a final goodbye. “I’ll see you soon, Betts.”

“Okay,” is all she breathed as she stared into his eyes. While biting her swollen lips, the girl backed away from the king and headed towards the door. “Bye,” She whispered as he leaned back onto the desk, watching her with amusement swimming in his ocean waves. He replied with a simple raise of an eyebrow while chuckles rippled through his chest. Betty wrapped a hand around the bruise to cover it, making the smug boy only laugh harder, as she disappeared into the swarm of people filling the hallways of Riverdale High. 

Just as she had anticipated, Betty Cooper walked in late. Eyes flew to the creaking of the old door opening and widen when they spotted the person hidden behind it. Standing there with her lips slightly swollen and hair tightly pulled back into a new ponytail the girl averted the glances and began her way to her seat while slipping a quiet apologie in the direction of her French teacher.

“M-Miss.Cooper?” Mrs. Porter stumbled upon her words as the poor old lady was appalled by her favorite student. The girl in question finally connected her gaze with the big, round brown eyes standing only two desks away. “Why are you late?”

She was ready for this. She had practiced the lie a million times in her head as she poured the liquid against her neck only a few moments before. “I am extremely sorry, Mrs. Porter. I was helping a student who was struggling in their classes during lunch and I lost track of time! I promise you, it won’t ever happen again. I-” 

“Oh! Hush hush, Mrs. Cooper! Stop your worrying. You didn’t miss much,” The lady beamed towards her student as she dramatically waved her hands in the air as if she was swatting a persistent fly. Betty watched as her eyebrows shot towards the ceiling and her eyes grew large once more. “Oh! Honey, did you eat anything?”

An image of his lips flooded her brain. Roughly chapped, swollen by the pressure of her lips and sinfully stained with her gloss. The one thing that could make her feel faint by their touch against her skin. She involuntarily swiped her delicate fingers along the lining of the mark he left as her heart skipped a beat against her ribcage. She felt her face grow warm as she pondered on the thought of how he made her feel. She was burning with the touch of his flames yet shivering at the loss of him. She could see the moonlight as it stuck a dark night. Her tongue crept out from her mouth and rubbed against her lips as if she could still taste the mint and cigarette that linger there. “Ummm… yeah,” Her voice whispered through the quiet of the classroom. “Yeah, I did.” 

The rest of the day dragged by painfully slow for the girl who desperately craved the devil’s touch. Jughead could never leave her mind, no matter what she did. When she saw the black hair of the main character in the French movie Mrs. Porter played, her hands shook in the memory of the feeling of his raven curls as she raked through them. When she saw her mother’s dark blue sweater, the sight of his rough storm replayed in her mind. When she felt the water droplets that poured from her showerhead travel down her body, she fiercely wished it was his fingers instead. 

Her skin erupted with goosebumps as the cold air struck her while she climbed out of the shower. Her reflection was a blur of bruises as she stared into the fogged mirror. She swept her hand through it, causing her to see the marks clearly. The first was a stain of yellow and black as it faded with each night that passed. The second stood in contrast to her porcelain skin as it was tinted purple. One filled with fright, the other filled with a dying lust for a man who bore a notorious crown. 

After pulling her wife beater and spandex shorts on, the girl slipped into her bubblegum, silk sheets. She laid there staring at her white walls, wishing for sleep to consume her. Yet, it never did; not after thirty minutes and certainly not after two hours. It grew weird to lay along her bedsheets without the weight of his arm wrapped around her side or his wings hanging from her shoulders. It was as if she was standing in the snow naked. Her skin shivered for the heat that only one boy radiated. That’s what kept her up; wide-eyed as she watched the moonlight shine through her thin curtains, restless as her body tossed and turned, and fully awake as her mind flashed memories of his storm piercing into her soul. 

Betty’s clock blinked 3:36 am when she felt the tightness in her chest. She needed him. But she knew she shouldn’t cause at the end of the day, they would forever be destined to be apart. No matter how much they fought against it, she would always be the cookie-cutter princess born to bear pastel and he would always be the king of chaos born with a target on his back. She wanted to scream for the ache she felt for the angel of death. He controlled everything she did, no matter if he knew it or not. He constantly lived in the back of her mind, distracting her with his rough ocean waves, making her shiver with the loss of his touch, and causing her tongue to taste her lips as if he still stained her. 

3:48 am was when she heard it. Her dad’s old ladder creaked as weight fell upon it, shattering the silence that covered the town. Betty’s heart jumped and fingers shook as she awaited his dark storm. His shadow appeared upon her bed as her window slid open. Once his boot sounded against her carpet, the girl jumped into his embrace. He nearly fell by the impact of her hug. She breathed in his scent of cigarettes and motors, instantly feeling the tightening in her chest vanish into the cold night. The chuckle he released against her ear vibrated through her whole body and woke the butterflies in her stomach. “Babe, why are you awake?” Jughead whispered as he raked through her blonde waves. 

“I could ask you the same thing,” Her voice muffled against his chest as she rubbed her head deeper into the embrace. Desperately craving for more of the warmth he provided and pulsed through her veins. 

She felt him smile against her hair and pull the two of them towards her cold bed. The pair fell against her sheets hard, landing with him below her. Laughter filled her room as they drowned in each other. His hand wrapped around her small waist as he flipped the two to where he towered above her small frame. The light provided by the moon shined against his face, helping her see the smirk as it crept along his slips. “Thought you might be cold in the little clothes that you wear so I came to give you my jacket.” His smirk broke into a bright smile as the leather slipped from his shoulders.

“Oh shut up, I know you missed me too much to sleep,” She took his wings as handed them to her and wrapped them around her shoulders. Her eyes began to droop but the need of him made her mind race to stay awake. 

“Oh yeah? Are you talking about me or you, Betts?” Jughead laid back atop the girl and whispered as he tried to bury himself against her neck. The weight of him sent warmth from her head to her toes. She was almost certain he could feel her heart bang against her ribcage at each breath he released against her skin. “I might have missed you… a little.” His voice could barely be heard from the way it grew muffled but her ears caught on to every word he said. 

When he watched her leave earlier that day, he felt pain strike his heart with the need he felt for her touch and the sight of her blinding smile. When he sat in class, all he could think of was the feeling of her lips against his and the taste of strawberries and honey dripping in his mouth. When he was working his night job of being king, he wished to be holding her as she slept on top of him instead. Once he dealt his last punch against a strangers face, he bid the gang a goodbye as he headed for his own Betty-less bed. He washed away the night’s events and stared towards his ceiling, craving for slumber to overcome him, yet it never came. After two hours of tossing and turning in his large and empty bed, the boy straddled his bike and rode towards the one person who could comfort him to sleep.

The butterflies rattled in her stomach as he brushed his nose along her neck playfully. She tore the crown from his head and gently placed it on top of the clock that stared at her with each passing minute. She felt him hum at the feeling of her fingers raking through his raven curls. Her heart grew warm at the fact that everything she had been craving was now laying before her. Her hands no longer shook for his touch and her body no longer shivered for his warmth for he was now there in her arms. “I missed you too, Jug.” 

At the sound of her voice, he pulled himself from her embrace. The moonlight shined against the soft features of her face as he leaned on his hands above her. He was searching through her forest when her lips caught his attention. He watched as they tugged into a small and delicate smile, making him instantly mirror her actions. “Oh yeah?” He felt her giggles form in her chest and vibrate through his body. Without another thought, the boy leaned forward and captured what he had been fiercely aching for with every minute he was without her. 

The kiss that they shared was different from the rest. Instead of it being filled with a dark lust and need, it captured pure happiness and calmness. They smiled against each other as they tasted their favorite flavors in the other’s mouth. It was a lazy flick of the tongue and little movement in the lips as they hummed into one another. 

Betty giggled at the tickle of his nose against hers. Her eyes pleaded for sleep and she could tell his did too by the way his blinks grew longer. “Come on… Let’s-Let’s… um -Jug stop kissing my neck it’s distracting me!” She blushed at the feeling of his smirk against her skin.

“I’m sorry,” He placed another sloppy kiss on her dainty skin, “Go on.” 

“We should sleep,” His groan made a giggle ripple through her body. “Stop, we have school tomorrow and it’s four in the morning!” 

“Fine… Just give me one last goodnight kiss,” He closed his eyes as he beamed down at the goddess below him. 

“I mean, I guess… if you need to,” She grinned towards the calm waves brushing along her body. 

“Shut up,” He mumbled against her lips. She felt her toes grow numb at the feeling of his tongue swipe against hers. Cigarettes and mint flooded her taste buds, awaking something in her she didn’t even know she carried. Her breath grew short and desperate as the sound of their mouths connecting bounce across her white walls. Courage bloomed in her soul causing her to stink her teeth into his bottom lip and pull him towards her while she swept her tongue against the sore spot. His growl rumbled through her body causing a mewl to escape her lips at the feeling. Just as she grabbed his jaw to tilt his head to the side, he broke from her touch. Jughead’s swollen lips smiled down at the girl who bore a pout towards the boy. “Goodnight.” He laughed at the scoff that escaped the mouth he was attached to only seconds before. 

“You’re rude you know that, Jughead Jones?” She tried to scowl at him but failed when she felt the brush of his lips against her neck, once more. 

“Oh, Betty Cooper you’re worse.” A laugh broke through the room making him smile against her soft skin. He laid his right hand near her delicate, blonde curls as his wrapped his left arm around her waist. The boy buried his face into her neck, feeling her breath calm at his touch. 

She felt her mind begin to fall into a deep slumber when she heard his faint voice against her. “Goodnight, Betts.” 

“Night, Juggie,” She felt his reply with a simple stroke of his rough fingers along her blonde curls. The pair fell asleep with soft smiles tugging against their lips as they dreamt of a cloudless sky shining down upon an evergreen rainforest. 

From the outside, all one could see where two teenager’s limbs and hearts tangled together as if they were one. One bore darkness, the other light, yet to the moon that shined into a pastel room, it didn’t matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Blushes like crazy and whispers a small, shaky "Hi"*
> 
>  
> 
> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING 
> 
> as always every comment and kudos meaning the whole entire world to me!!!!!
> 
> xoxo, char


	4. the devil without his horns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jughead Jones knew the color of fear, too well, for he sees it every day but it would forever look foreign staring back at him in the mirror, mixed with his dark night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to my two loves @endlesswriter03 and @reixnhart for editing my work 
> 
>  
> 
> and EVERY single pair of eyes that glance at my work 
> 
> you all are the reason i open up and share my love for writing 
> 
>  
> 
> i couldn't thank you enough.

Jughead awoke to a warmth he couldn’t describe if someone asked him to. It wasn’t the type that one felt when the sunrays graced their face nor when the heat of a fire cloaked one’s body. It was something he had never felt before. It bloomed in his chest and spread through his veins, engulfing his whole body from his head to his toes. The feeling made his chapped lips spread into a small, sleepy grin against her collarbone. 

 

All that traveled into the young boy’s ear was the distant chirp of birds outside as the sun began to rise, once more, mixed with the gentle snore released with each rise and fall of her chest. He felt her heart beat to the rhythm of his as their bodies latched on to one another as if without the other’s body heat they would freeze in the blizzard of a cruel world. His fingers instinctively roamed the lines of her skin. Greedly feeling the gentle softness, it provided against his rough, calloused hands. 

 

He arose from her embrace and leaned on his elbow. Watching, searching, every detail of the beauty before him. Betty Cooper was something he never imagined he would be able to see, let alone hold in his very arms. She wasn’t the woman that recurrently appeared in his head as he slept against his hard pillow, dreaming of having something better than just his worn, woven crown and bloody knuckles. She could never match that. No, for Betty was so much more significant. It was as if one was comparing a diamond to a pebble, gold to a penny, a goddess to a human. She was an angel in every single way with her delicate blonde locks and her dainty porcelain skin; both more comforting than his cold leather. Her eyes were the reason for his death. The reason he lost his breath time and time again, leaving his lungs, rapidly gasping for air. Simply drowning with no care to look away, to rise to the surface and release the burning feeling that spread through his chest. It was overthrown by everything else she made him feel, all that was new and intoxicatingly addictive. 

 

Jughead stoked her cheekbone, lightly grazing the healing mark that stained her face. His frown broke into a small smile as he felt her legs move against his and her eyelashes flutter open. Forest met a current of gentle waves. He could have sworn she felt his heart skip a beat against hers at the giggle that was released through her dry lips. He felt it travel down his body, leaving a lightness in his chest he could only recall feeling a handful of times in his lifetime. “Good morning.” It was a faint whisper thrown into the air filled with the songs of the birds and a whip of the passing wind, but he heard it. Though, how could he not when it was his favorite sound? 

 

“Mornin’, Betts,” The vibrations caused by his husky voice erupted through her as he leaned forward and melded them for a fraction of a second, to only pull back and leave her warm embrace but not before he nuzzled his nose against hers. 

 

“What are you doing? Juggie, what time is it?” The nickname sounded foreign laced in with her voice instead of the little girl who was a flash of raven pigtails and missing teeth, but he believed he could get used to it. The young girl was the one person that could pull him from his heaven.

 

“I have to go, baby,” The boy leaned down to her once more, pressing a promise of a return against her smooth, pink lips. And with one last glance towards the picture of a confused, sleepy goddess, the king forced himself down the creaking ladder. 

 

The wind was cold as it stuck his skin by the speed his motor rode, but he could barely feel it for his wings, and the ghost of her embrace cloaked him in a burning fire of bliss. As he weaved through traffic at a deadly speed, the corner of his lips pulled up into a slight smirk as he thought back to his last moments with her. Moments filled with his pleads and her persistence. 

 

_ “No, Betts, just keep it,” Jughead watched as she began to tear his leather from her small frame. A frame he was so desperately tried to keep his eyes from. A goddess more gorgeous, more sinful and sure as hell more dangerous than the infamous Aphrodite herself, laid before him. Hair disheveled and spread to resemble the summer sun rays. Eyes caught a forest of a rare and unknown emerald green that all travelers would desire to adventure through. She wore little underneath his crown. Her body only supported a baggy wife beater, looking a size too big, and small shorts, ones that served no purpose in his opinion as they were buried under the length of the tank top.  _

 

_ “Jughead Jones, take it now. I don’t need you getting sick from riding in this cold air,” She pulled herself up and leaned against one of her arms as she stretched out his leather with the other. The action caused her shirt to spill forward and expose what was hidden from his high view. He felt his Adam's apple bob in his throat as his eyes slipped from her face and against his resistance looked down. He nearly choked on his spit at the sight of her lacy, white bra. Her porcelain skin popped up into two perfectly round bumps, almost spilling from their restrainment. The smirk she bore told him that she knew exactly what she was doing and relished in the sound of his shaky breaths and fidgeting fingers.  _

 

_ “Oh o-okay,” He lifted his stare and tried to cough away the sudden spell she enchanted upon him. When his blue connected with her green once more, a smirk of his own pulled at the lines of his lips. “Only cause I know you couldn’t resist kissing me even if I was sick and we don’t want straight A student Betty Cooper to miss any school because she somehow got a sore throat and running nose, now do we?”  _

 

_ “Just shut up and take the damn thing, Jones,” A blinding smile flooded her features as a series of giggles rippled through her body. He could feel his smirk break into a soft, heartfelt grin as he beamed down to the girl below him.  _

 

The large and elegant gates came into view as the boy curved around the corner. He could see the gray-haired man in the room filled with cameras next to it. As the roars of his matte black Honda Rebel 500 echoed down the street, the same man peered up to connect eyes with the notorious king. “Hey, Arthur,” The young boy pulled a stop in front of his barrier. 

 

“Jug! How are you today?” He watched as crumbs of his donut fell into his mug of coffee, oblivious to the man who beamed a bright smile. 

 

“I’m good. How’s Dorothy?” The boy couldn’t help but chuckle towards the sparkle that flashed in the man’s eyes by the mention of his wife. He remembers glimpses of Arthur when he first moved from his rundown trailer park to the elite mansion complex. He was probably seven at the time. Scared out of his mind as he only knew broken faucets and pull out couches as his home. The flashes of gold and money were foreign. His room seemed too big, and his house acted as a maze, instantly feeling distant from his family by the large open space. But a pair of kind brown eyes calmed and welcomed the young child every morning and every night. Even when protecting the most dangerous criminals in the nation behind his tall gates, Arthur always treated them as if they were ordinary people. As if when the sun rose they left to sit in their open cubicle and run their fingers against the keys on their computers, rather than ones who left when night broke across the town only to return in the morning with bloody knuckles and tired eyes.

 

“She’s good! The doctor said her cancer has permanently been cured and she hasn’t stopped smiling since! But Jug you better get going it’s 7:12,” Jughead saw how the man talked about his wife. Admiring the love he carried and expressed as if she was the best prize to be owned. 

 

“Thank you,” He flashed one last goodbye smile. “And tell Dorothy I said congratulations!” The yell was faint against the strong wind as he drove off, but by the grin he noticed in his rearview mirror, he could tell the man heard it loud and clear. 

 

Jughead came to a final stop in front of the six-car garage door, tearing his helmet from his head. As a deep breath flowed through his lungs, his fingers instinctively stroked through his raven waves before pulling his crown on to restrain them only a second later. The slam of his front door echoed around the house, along with the stomps of his boots against the hard title, as he made his way up the large marble stairs. “Jelly!” His voice bounced down the halls. 

 

When he heard no response, he called again. “Jelly!... Come on we’re going to be late,” He heard long snores erupt from the room farthest down the hall. Snores that couldn’t belong to the little girl he knows so well. The devil felt his horns unveil themselves as his fingers curled deep into his palms. His footsteps grew heavier with each boot that came into contact with the tile as a fire of fury sparked in his eyes at the flash of fallen beer bottles. His rough, calloused hands cracked the door open to see the sight of a drunken man in a deep slumber. He disrupted everything about the image of the young girl’s room. The cheap glass bottles laid next to the forgotten dolls on the floor. The purple sheets stained brown as the alcohol spilled out of the oblivious man’s hand. The small mattress barely held his weight as his feet hung over the end of the white frame. 

 

The angel of death stood in front of the scene as a shaky breath was released through his parted lips. The fire was strong. It was dangerous, and it was ugly. Promising to be worse than the ones that kill fields of life and communities. The waves captured in his eyes were critical and far from the calm it held hours before. It was collecting itself for death and destruction. His hands tore the drunk’s legs from the bed, causing him to fall from and in effect abruptly waking him. “Get the fuck out!” The king felt the yell ripple through his throat. It made him want to scream more, rage louder. It caused his hands to shake for the feeling of coming in strong contact with his father’s face. 

 

The man blinked twice in confusion, eyes blank and empty as he stared at the person before him. The son watched as a sheet of rain dropped from the storm clouds over him. Eyes so familiar to his, holding the same shade, the same storm, yet so different. They were hallowed, empty of the life the other pair contained. A growl escaped his lips as he lifted himself from the hard ground. “Where were you, boy?” 

 

A scoff escaped him as he watched his father grow closer to him. Stumbling from the imaginary hands that pushed him caused by the alcohol that flowed in his veins and clouded his mind. Jughead’s face scrunched in disgust when the stench traveled into his nose. His jaw clenched as hard as his hand had around his father’s arm. “Get out, FP,” His fingers gripped the skin strong enough to leave blood in its wake as he threw the man out of his sister’s room. 

 

“Hey, Hey!” Drunken mumbles flew around the room. FP yanked his arm away from his son as he stared at him with a looming storm. One that spread fear to all that came close. One that left broken homes and streaming tears. It was so familiar to the boy. Too familiar that his hands didn’t shake nor did his eyes flood with an overbearing amount of water anymore, at least not in fear anyway. “Don’t touch me like that, boy!” The fist came before he saw it, landing a short distance underneath his nose and reopening the scar that was embedded in one of the lines of his lips. The impact made him fall hard against the wall. The sound of glass scattering echoed across the hall as a flower vase slipped from the counter that the man used to lean on. 

 

“Fuck!” The curse was barely audible from the amount of blood that clogged the boy’s mouth. A dark chuckle spits from his lips as he looked towards the man with a burning hatred. His heart pounded fast against his ribcage. His fingers itched to hit him. His eyes pierced cuts into his skin. The devil was surrounded by the fire he birthed. Engulfed in the darkness, he created and carries with him every day. His long, black wings spread, ready to tear and destroy everything in their path. Nothing could hold him back, stronger than a tsunami hitting a town of millions, breaking down towers. Nothing but the small, sleepy whisper that sounded against the walls. His fists were ready to feel the bone underneath his father’s cheek but with one simple question of “Juggie?”, everything vanished. The sight of fright captured in his sister’s eyes stopped the tsunami before it crashed. 

 

Jughead saw the water forming behind her tired eyes, making his heart fall, and his teeth grind together in pain. Her hair was messy, falling across her face as she stood against the door to his room. He turned his view to his father for a split second to see him stumbling down the stairs, only to face the girl once more. Her lips quivered in fear as she played with her hands; a habit she grew to have when she couldn’t stop her hands from shaking. “Hey,” His voice was soft and gentle as he stepped closer. It matched the tone he held towards Betty when they stood in the cold wind on the rooftop, when she broke in his arms, and when she kissed him senseless. The same tone that contradicted everything his image stood for. 

 

The king crouched down to her level, grabbing her to hold her in his arms. “Hey, Bean… it’s okay, don’t cry,” He choked back his own tears as he whispered against her long raven curls. His throat tightened, making it harder to breathe. More water clouded his vision as he felt her sobs ripple through her small body. He brought her into her room as it grew difficult to hold everything in. To block the pain from escaping his soul and breaking apart against her small frame. He released shaky breaths as he combed his rugged fingers through her hair while she buried her face against the skin of his neck. 

 

Minutes passed as they sat on her stained sheets, trying to recollect the broken shards of their young souls. With dry eyes and a strained voice, the boy spoke, “Come on, Bean, let’s get ready, yeah?” Jellybean unlatched herself from her brother yet stayed on his lap as she sniffed in a deep breath. He brought his hand to her face and wiped away her tears, smiling when he felt her nod against his hand. Looking down at his worn, wet shirt, Jughead uttered: “Okay, I’m going to go change.”

 

Now walking towards her purple painted bathroom, the six-year-old stopped to turn towards her brother. “Don’t leave, please,” She spoke so softly, so broken, that he felt his heart splitter at her words. The tears threatened to come back, but he suppressed them with a small smile. 

 

His boots carried him to her, and he leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her hair. “I’m just going to change, and then I’ll grab my toothbrush and come in here so we can brush our teeth together, okay?” Her large blue eyes were tinted a faint red as a beaming smile spread across her tired features, missing teeth and all.

 

“And we can sing Old MacDonald and dance and…” Her voice grew distant as she jumped her way to the bathroom. All pain was forgotten as if nothing happened while the thoughts of what could come overcame her mind. He admired her for that, he always had. 

 

His room was a short distance from hers. It had to be for no matter how many changes they went through he always had to keep her close. It didn’t hold as much life, and light as hers did though. Where her prized possessions were scattered across the floor, his were buried in his drawer; hidden from a pair of drunk sticky fingers. Where pictures hung on her wall, a worn 4x4 of him cradling a baby in his skinny arms was tucked in one of the many books that cluttered his shelves. 

 

Jughead’s blankets were thrown across his bed and a small teddy bear rest up top his pillow. The image of the raven-haired princess’s limbs spreading to their full length as she snored to a sweet lullaby made him smile; instantly wincing at the pain that spread across his lips. He rose his hand to the cut, cursing at the sight of crimson that stained his fingers. He knew it was deep for he remembered the feel of the sharp steel of his father’s ring as it dug into his scarred skin. With a deep exhale, the boy wiped his bloody hands before he fished out jeans and a shirt. 

 

After slipping into something new, different clothes yet the same dark aesthetic, scrubbing his teeth with the young girl singing by his side (“Old MacDonald had a farm e- Juggie! You have to sing too!”), and supporting her as she pulled her arms through her own leather, the two hopped on his motorcycle. He could feel her lean deeper into his chest at each turn while her small body sat in front of him, wrapped in his large embrace as if to protect her from the pain of living in their atrocious world. 

 

He sped into the driveway of ‘Riverdale Elementary: Home of the Northside Bulldogs’. Jellybean was a southside descendant, everyone saw them that way, and the labels on their backs would never change, even if she was born after they moved away from the park. She spent her first few school years climbing on the graffiti-stained playground with barbed wire fences towering over them in the southside. That was while the empire was ruled by a king who spilled his beer on the throne. But once Jughead overthrew his father one of the first things he did was enroll her into a better, brighter school, one that happened to be located on the other side town in the Northside territory. 

 

The siblings hopped off his motorcycle and began their way towards the tall buildings ahead. Her short legs carried her at a faster pace leaving him to stare at the infamous two-headed serpent embedded below the five sloppy letters spelling ‘JELLY’ on her back, marking her as a child of the Jones family. “Wait, Bean, no jackets.” He called towards the child as he began to pull at his own leather. “Hey, I know, but the Bulldogs don’t take too kindly to snakes in this part of town,” he spoke to the frown that scrunched her young features. He took both of their devil horns and hung them on the handlebars before they continued their way into the school. 

 

All eyes were glued to the two as their steps echoed around the office. Nothing sounded, not even a shuffle of papers nor a whisper between colleagues. The lady at the front desk nearly choked on the coffee she sipped from a mug branding the word ‘Bulldogs’ in blue and yellow in their presence. “Hello Jackie, I’m here to sign in Jelly.” 

 

“Yes,  Forsythia,” Jughead could almost feel the knives his sister sent the lady’s way. 

 

“It’s Jellybean to you,” the grip on she held on his hand grew tighter as she spoke. A light chuckle escaped his lips at the famous Jones’s attitude she inherited.

 

He raised his eyebrow towards Jackie as a smirk of pride spread across his face. “Forsythia’s not her name.” The woman connected her stare with the fallen angel. He watched in amusement as the familiar color of fear flooded her amber eyes. 

 

“R-right… s-sorry.” Her hands shook against her keyboard as typed. “She’s all checked in.” He could hear the panic rising in her voice as she averted her gaze to something in the distance. 

 

“Thank you, Jackie,” He leaned forward against her desk as he spoke. Sharp inhales from the people surrounding crowded the room as they hesitantly watched the scene before them. All the woman did was take a nervous gulp as she nodded her head to her computer. 

 

The king turned towards his sister, once more, grinning at the wide, toothless smile she sent him. He bent at his knees to get to her level, “You be good okay, Jelly? I don’t want to get another call about you punching one of your classmates again.” 

 

“But I only made five kids bleed and they-” She stopped speaking at the rise of his eyebrows and narrowing of his dark blue eyes. “Fine.” The young serpent descendant released a deep breath as she averted her gaze to the desk in front of them. He could see the slight tug of her lips at what she saw, which was most likely the uneasiness captured in the faces surrounding the pair. 

 

“Good job,” he shook his head with a brighter smile stretching along his features. Jughead leaned in, placing a gentle kiss along her forehead. “I’ll see you soon, Bean.” 

 

“I love you, Juggie,” the child rushed her small frame into her brother as she gave him a warm hug before running off.

 

“I love you too,” He watched as her long raven hair whipped through the air as she turned her view back to him, sending him a soft wave with her chipped black nails. 

 

Within a short thirty minutes, the boy was back in his own stuffy classroom blocking out to the dull voice of his teacher and dreaming of the golden angel that recurrently clouded his mind. The vision of her only added to the craving he felt for her. Being in the same building, just a hallway away, almost drove him mentally insane. He could feel the ghost of her gentle touch against skin although it had been a few hours since he had last been in her affectionate embrace. His lips throbbed, not only for the bruise that began to form but for hers. His heart rate grew in the thought of feeling everything his fingers itched for. 

 

The instant the bell rang for dismal of lunch and releasement from the boredom that hung in the air, his boots carried him out the classroom to only stop when they reached a flash of leather. He could hear the booming laughs travel from the tall boy with a serpent curling along his neck from the doorway of the student lounge. “Jones!” Sweet Pea connected his gaze to his king. 

 

Jughead answered with a barely noticeable tug of his lips as he sat among them. “Where were you? We waited for you.” The girl who was flash of brown and pink waved her coffee through the air as she questioned her childhood friend. 

 

“Jelly woke up late,” Slightly grinning at the thought of his sister and the simple lie that slithered through his lips almost too easily, though it wasn’t a complete lie just not the full truth. 

 

“What are we going to do about the ghoulies?” Joaquin shattered the high bliss with a simple question. The smile slipped from Jughead’s lips as he tore his eyes from Toni and towards the green-eyed boy seated in front of him.

 

“What do you mean?” His voice grew lower as he spoke. The dark clouds formed as thunder began to brew at the mention of the rival gang. He could feel the cold metal of his rings as his hands formed into tight fists. There still stood a deep scar along  Malachai ’s cheekbone, one that strongly resembled the sharp jagged design of the crown wrapped around the king’s forefinger. 

 

“You know what I mean, Jones,” The fellow serpent leaned forward as he matched his king’s tone. “They’ve been takin’ shit. They’re lookin’ for a fight, tryin’ to find all our weaknesses.” He could feel their eyes tear into his skin. As if the unmask something he was hiding from them. As if he held every solution in the palm of his hand for in their heads it’s always been to see what the king does, and in turn, follow what the king does. 

 

Golden ponytails and curly raven locks dashed through his mind. “They won’t.” He bit back. “And if they’re looking for a fight… let them come.” A bolt of lightning struck from the sky as a strong wind whipped the heavy rain through the air. He could see the surrounding mouthes open in protest to only shut a second later at the threat of unmasking his lethal horns. The fallen angel gulped at the feeling of being vulnerable to an enemy, but it only fueled the fire erupting in his chest. And though storm fell, the large flames still burned bright. 

 

Jughead couldn’t get it out of his head. The risk of losing his very own angel who descended from her heaven to join him in his agonizing hell. His green-eyed goddess who made him fall to his knees and pray to her. His flash of light in the tunnel of darkness he calls home.  _ His _ Betty Cooper. The possibility of never seeing the rising sun painted along her features as she laid between her silk sheets and his warm body. Never hearing the sound of her giggle as he let his rough fingers roam underneath her sweaters and against her creamy skin. Never being able to lose his breath,  _ to drown _ , in her angelic soul. 

 

The sound of her laugh made his heart squeeze in his chest. He knew it was her before she turned the corner and he caught a glimpse of the pale pink sweater that hugged her frame or the evergreen eyes that were forever cursed to his memories. It was so much worse. The heat of the fire intensified to a thousand suns as the flames grew closer to his skin, threatening to burn pain and heartbreak along the lines of his skin. Everything deepened in her presence. The overbearing fear and the craving for her touch. The boiling anger and the desire to hear his name against her tongue. The heart-wrenching pain and the need to feel her light against his cold skin. 

 

Jughead could feel her forest sand begging for his salty waves. He saw the way she fumbled with her hands. Felt the way her emerald green searched every inch of him, leaving an eruption of hairs to stand tall on the back of his head. Heard the faint sounds of her shaky exhales travel to meld with his own. His teeth ground together as he fought every nerve in his body. They were craving the drug she intoxicated him with. Just the simple touch of her skin sent an ocean of electricity, but the warmth of her tongue against his was just enough to make him overdose. 

 

But just like every drug, there were withdrawals. Some long, some short lasting. But it didn’t feel like the familiar pierce of a bullet against his skin, no, it was a million times worse. It was an ache born in the lines of his cold soul. One that chased through his whole body. It was the feeling of incomplete. The annoying nag that leaves one tossing in between their sheets as the moon hung over them. 

 

He couldn’t bear it. The devil never felt this type of torture before and he sure as hell didn’t like it. The battlefield became bloody at the contact of a bleak blue and a dazzling green. There was the sparkle in her eye, something that would make every star in the galaxy jealous. A ray of sunlight slipped through his storm before it conquered the sky once more in never-ending darkness. He gulped at the force it took to keep himself from her. But when it comes to his love, flying bullets and fallen bodies always follow and he couldn’t wish that upon anyone, especially Betty Cooper. 

 

Her soft lips turned up into a small smile. One that made his heart slam hard against his ribcage, and in turn take away all the air that coursed through his lungs. He felt the stares of the serpents inch his skin at the sharp gasp that escaped his lips. His muscles moved before his brain fully registered what was happening. He escaped his chamber of pure torture leaving only the echo of his boots against the hardwood as his goodbye. 

 

Silence plagued the hallways as fear clung to the students' faces. The storm was raging a promise of chaos. It needed to be released. It was causing the wall he held against the roaring rain to splinter. He needed to feel something. The intoxicating burn of a cigarette as it clogged his lungs, or maybe even the crunch of bones underneath his bloody knuckles would work. The quick shuffle of feet flooded his ears as his peers distanced father away from the devil incarnate. Only after his throat grew raw did he realize his wall cracked and a yell ripped through him. 

 

The entrance doors came into view. He was so close. He could almost reach out and feel the cold metal of the handle along his fingertips. So close till the storm was too loud to hear her song echo through the air, but he did feel her warm touch travel from his forearm to his cold soul. It was gentle, a graze along his rough leather. 

 

“Juggie?” Her voice was barely audible, only reaching him rather than the surrounding crowd. “What’s wrong?” 

 

He choked at the sound of her voice. One that he could listen to on repeat for hours. One that always cleared the storm and pulled the summer rays down from the sky. One that saved countless of sailors from drowning by calming the tall, raging waves. And it did just that; her voice changed something hidden in between the lines of his scarred heart. 

 

As he turned his head the slightest and connected their gaze over his shoulder, she saw what he had done. The rain stopped, and the fire blew out, leaving all to lay in the young boy’s eyes a cold and dead night sky. Gone were the specks of light provided by the billions of stars. Nothing, not even a brush of wind or a passing cloud. Just a raw emptiness swam around the iris of his dark blue. 

 

It was now her turn to gasp. He watched a spark light a fire of fear in her. It resembled all the others that burned around him. And yet he felt nothing. There was no shivering ache for her touch. No rapid chills. No heavy heart. He was numb. Everything died the second his soul froze over. 

 

The fallen angel watched as the lips of his goddess moved as if she spoke to him. And yet all that reached him was the slightest nag of white noise running to his brain. He could see her sunlight begging to beam against his ocean waves. It was hidden right below the mask of fear. But hers was a different taste, a different shade against her emerald eyes. It wasn’t pure. It wasn’t true for she knew the boy laying underneath the bleak sky. 

 

The bell rang through the halls, breaking both the silence and the dangerous contact of dark and light. He used her lack of concentration for his advantage. The sound awoke his muscles but still nothing in his soul. He left before she turned once more. Running down the stairs and towards the world plagued in darkness. His kingdom. His home. 

 

Jughead’s hands were cloaked in a dark crimson. Pain coursed through his knuckles at every twitch of his fingers. Foreign blood stained his torn shirt. But he didn’t stop. The man tied before him was a blur of swollen bruises and oozing gashes to the devil’s eyes. He no longer watched where he swung, no longer cared for the information he demanded. The storm was released and challenged for more destruction. The fire spread from his soul and was now burning for thousands of miles on end. 

 

“What is  Malachai planning?” The scream erupted from his raw throat and bounced around the small room. The man choked on the blood dripping down the lines of his face as he shook underneath the angel of death’s silver blade. The boy’s jaw clenched as his patience grew worn. He reached to crunch the bone once more before he felt a sharp tug against his forearm.

 

Jughead turned to find his second in command digging into the flesh of his leather. His flames grew higher as the fire grew brighter. With a strong force, the king ripped his arm from his friend’s grasp and with a short second pinned the boy against the cold metal of the surrounding wall. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Pea?” He blew a growl against his face. 

 

Sweet Pea fought against him, pushing to be free with all his strength, and yet the king didn’t waver. The hold on his wrist only grew tighter as the flames threatened to burn his skin. “Jughead stop!” The tall boy pleaded with tired eyes. “This is the fifth man you’ve questioned since lunch… he doesn’t know anything more than the rest of ‘em.” 

 

The devil reared his flames back to the gasping man behind him. The darkness in his eyes intensified as a smirk slipped along his lips. “He does though I just have to-“ 

 

“It’s Jelly, she got hurt,” Sweet Pea closed his eyes as he breathed a choppy sigh, waiting to see the pain overfill the boy he knew so well. “She needs you to get her.” 

 

“What do you mean?” Jughead tightened his fist to keep his hands from shaking, but nothing stopped his voice. “What do you mean!” It wasn’t a question anymore as he dented the hard metal surrounding them with one single punch. He didn’t wait for a response as he reached for his wings hanging on the back of the chair in front of his last victim. He secured the cold leather around his shoulders, despite the beads of sweat dripping down his face, and carried himself away from the heavy breathes and quiet weeps with his dark clouds following at toe. 

 

His bike nearly crashed into the large brush outside the opening doors of her school. But he didn’t care as he reared to a screeching stop, staining black marks against the pure concrete. Only after he ripped his helmet from his raven curls did he realize the smudged blood coating his body. His eyes grew wide as he nervously tried to scratch it from his skin while he ran for his young sister. 

 

The office looked just as it had earlier that morning, filled with the same staff and crowded conversations. A piercing scream sounded before the doors shut and all stares fell to the young boy swimming in worry. “Where’s my sister?” His strained voice was barely audible against the gasps and shaky whispers that packed the room.

 

Jughead caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye making him turn his head sharply. Instead of the familiar raven pigtails, he was wishing for; he found fingers crawling towards the numbers  _ 9-1-1 _ . “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” His voice was gentle towards the fright drowning the lady. “I just- please, where is my sis-” There. The sight he was awaiting was through the window to the room over, playing with her hands as she slouched in a chair. 

 

He released a choppy breath as he carried himself towards the door to his right, knocking over the small plant placed on the front desk in his hurry. “Bean.” A smile pulled at the tender gash along his lip as Jellybean lifted her head from her chipped black nail polish. He fell to her embrace, soft chuckles rippling through his chest as he held her tighter. He placed a light kiss against her raven before pulling himself from her. 

 

Jughead watched as her crooked smile slipped from her face once her cloudless sky fell from his calm waves and to the blood he clothed. “Juggie?” He heard her throat grow tighter as she began to step back from him. 

 

“Hey, hey no I-I just… hurt myself on the bike,” His stained fingers brushed through her curls. He saw how her eyes searched his frantically as if to try and see past the lie she knew he spoke. And yet her small hands graced his recognizable bruises before nodding. At the gentle tug of her lips, the reason for his presence flooded back into his mind. “Bean, are you hurt?” His eyes scanned her leather bared shoulders to the torn purple tutu cradling her waist. 

 

“Ya, I just tripped down the slide and hurt my leg,” She spoke as she stretched her foot out. He smiled down at the small band-aid hugging her pale knee. “And look, Juggie, they gave me a Vanellope sticker!” And sure enough, clinging onto the back of his sister’s hand was her sassy cartoon doppelgänger. 

 

“So, you called me here to- yeah I see her Jelly- to get you because of this little cut?” The boy couldn’t keep a laugh from breaking his tone as he looked down at the toothless smile she bore. 

 

“No, I just didn’t want to be here and everyone’s too afraid to tell me no,” Her cheeks lifted, squeezing her eyes shut, as her smile grew wider. 

 

“Wow,” He shook his head as he rose to his full height. “You’re dead.” An eruption of giggles flooded the room as the girl ran to escape the salty waves chasing her onto the shore. Yet soon, she was engulfed in them and thrown over her brother’s shoulder. 

 

Jughead felt her trace the fangs of his snake against his back as he began for the front doors. The sound of shuffling feet and hushed whispers filled his ears. “Byeee!” He heard the young girl yell towards the surrounding people. His chest boomed as he felt her body squirm against his broad shoulder. Squealing as she felt herself slip only to pull at the chain hanging from his belt loop to steady herself. 

 

“Let’s go change, and we can head over to Tony’s for a treat.” His voice muffled while he threw her from his back causing a flash of long raven curls and wide pale eyes to fly the air. 

 

“But I want a milkshake.” 

 

He tilted his head at her tone. He knew what she really wanted, but he stayed oblivious for the hope that she wouldn’t dare ask the question that laid on the tip of her tongue. “Tony’s has milkshakes…” There was a long pause that hung around the two. Heavy, dense and wrapped in sensitivity. 

 

“I want a strawberry milkshake… from- from Pop’s.” Jellybean’s voice was a notch below a whisper. She almost doubted he heard her from the way he failed to throw a response her way. But by the way he dropped his head, she knew he had. 

 

“Bug, you know we can’t go there.” His hands twitched against the seat. They twitched for the forgotten feeling of the wet condensation that dripped from the large cup that stood in contrast to his, then, tiny palms. The heat rising from a warm burger, grease trilling from the melted cheese. The memory of the cushions placed in the booth; the same ones that comforted the ache in his back caused by the pullout bed his small limbs slept on.  

 

“Please, Juggie.” He could hear the pout in her voice. “Just once- one milkshake.” He turned to her large pale eyes. Swimming in innocence. The same innocence he had held before the darkness corrupted his world and the beer bottles piled up, along with the stacks of money laced in poison. 

 

“No, we’ll get a burger too.” The smile that overcame her features was easily one of his best accomplishments. He was sure of it for it made him fill with pride. It could light towns and was only saved for her older brother. For in most stories he was described as the cold-stoned villain, hers wrote him as the hero who bore a leather cape. 

 

It took a long time to get ready. Or maybe it didn’t. Jughead wouldn’t know as he felt time grow slow. Watching the foreign blood stain the white marble and swim down the drain along with the foam of his shampoo had become a routine. Something he grew used to doing every night. And just as every night, he poured the alcohol over his re-opened gashes; no longer hissing at the burn it created. 

 

The sun quickly fell from the sky, letting the moon take its place and steam beams through his large window. Something that provided him to see the city lights. The millions of people that crowded the streets of New York. It also helped him grab the clothes scattered across his unmade bed for he never bothered to turn the lights on.

 

The second he pulled his faded grey shirt over his wet hair, Jellybean burst through his door; as if on cue. “Let’s go, Juggieeee!” Her voice grew higher with each word. She bounced, making her curls fly when her brother replied with a smile and began his way behind her. 

 

The ride was quick. Pop’s was located on the Northside. Reserved for the people of blue and gold blood. Bulldogs at heart. The diner looked just as it had the last time he saw it. Never aging a day, even after twelve years. The neon lights were reflected in the glass of the cars that piled the surrounding parking lot. Shadows crowded windows, shadows belonging to his peers, neighbors, and one green-eyed goddess. But the devil was walking blindly of that fact. 

 

Betty was beyond tired. Her limbs ached against the red cushions from straining her muscles during practice just an hour prior. Her eyes begged to rest, drooping more and more at every blink. But her heart was the worst. Hallow and sore from the beating he gave her. It rattled her. Nagged at her skin. Causing her to repeat every encounter to try and find what sparked his flame. To find what she had done to burn out every star in his galaxy and leave his sky bleak. 

 

Her thoughts were louder than the conversion Kevin and Veronica spoke, making it incredibly hard to concentrate and leaving her to stare at the melted whip cream swimming in her strawberry milkshake. But one noise brought her, and just about every being in the diner, to life. The loud rumble of chaos. The thunder of his storm and the hiss of the infamous king, Jughead Jones. 

 

She gulped at the thought of his presence. Unintentionally bringing her soft fingers to grace her cheeks, worried that they may still be a dark blush from earlier. The goddess could faintly see her reflection in the diner windows she sat against. Causing her to nervously pick at the strands that fell from her loose ponytail. She was a blur of blue and gold for she wore her causal practice attire, a small plain white tee with the word  _ ‘Vixen’ _  inscribed across her chest and her cotton shorts that shrunk during her last load of laundry the night prior. 

 

She didn’t know what to do, but she decided against looking at the front door and rather the cherry drowning in her drink. “Kevin, is that a Serpent?” There was a hint of venom mixed with her friend’s sweet tone, something so obvious yet hidden behind her image. 

 

“Looks like it,” His tone was lighter than the girl that sat next to her. “Why would they come here?” He spoke in curiosity rather than hate. Betty could see that yet Ronnie couldn’t. 

 

“Don’t they know no snakes allowed?” The girl spoke to her perfectly manicured nails. “I mean all I’m saying is… isn’t our high school enough, now they have to come to the one place we hang at?” Her brown specks grew wide. Flinging the same painted hand to her drink, shaking her head as she gulped the chocolate down her throat. 

 

“Maybe they just want a taste of Pop’s famous burger.” It was a light mumble against her straw. Something meant to be thrown into the void and blocked from ear range. Yet, she must have spoken louder than intended for she felt more than just two pairs glances fly her way. Her cheeks grew hot, staining them darker than before as she shrugged her shoulders, looking to the pile of cold fries laying against her half-eaten burger. 

 

The goddess felt the cold air sweep into the neon doused diner as the night deity pulled the door back, signaling his arrival with the chime of the bell hanging overhead. The sound bounced across the walls, haunting her soul and feeding into her dying urge to swim with his gentle waves. Chills coursed down her body, begging for his flames to engulf her in their heat. The ache was heavier, weighing on her heart, dragging it closer to her ribcage. She knew she couldn’t look into the darkness. But Betty never had the best willpower, and the crescents across her palms were proof. 

 

While she sucked on the rest of her strawberry, she let her eyes crawl up from her forgotten meal. She was hoping to connect with his dark blue, instead, she found a bleak yellow staring back at her. It hissed a warning, a threat. A symbol of destruction and greedy power. But it was so familiar to her for it was the blanket that warmed her in the cold air. The thing that chased the monsters away, both in her head and in the streets. She could still feel the ghost of his ruff leather against her skin as he held her, tangled up in her silk sheets. 

 

A loud slurp broke the silence as if it were glass. Heads swung, and mouths fell agape towards the girl stained a rosy red. Her attention flew to her cup, drained to a flew melted ice cubes leaving her to suck nothing but air. She gulped at the heat of his stare, nervously lifting her gaze, once more, acting oblivious to the scene she caused. The stars were back and shining brighter with the assist of her light. A dark blue mixed with an emerald green creating a beautiful color unknown to man, blind to the human eye but pumping through two teen hearts. 

 

The connection broke to a chime as the door swung open once again. She searched for a fellow serpent, only to lower her gaze to familiar raven waves restricted in two lopsided pigtails. “Juggie! You didn’t win! it’s not fair you have longer legs!” She looked so much like the boy she clung to. Covered in leather with a bright pale to contradict his dark night. 

 

His lips tugged into a small smile as he looked down to the girl wrapped around his leg. It spread warmth through the angel’s soul, pulling at her own blinding grin. Something that stood out from the narrowed glances and harsh whispers. A blur of tutus and leather pulled Jughead to the only empty booth in the diner. One that sat in the forgotten corner; only two away from her, feeding into the desire to play with his flames. 

 

“Who is that?” She found herself asking as she painfully broke from his trance and towards her friends. 

 

“His little sister,” Kevin pointed a fry, spraying salt onto the table. 

 

“He has a sister?” It was quiet, small as she played with her nails. Acting as uninterested as possible, something that was growing harder to do with the sound of his voice singing faintly past the buzzing conversations. 

 

“Yeah, no one knows much because well- does anyone know anything on the broody bad boy- but I have heard he’s the only one that takes care of her.” The sweater bearing boy tugged a small, sorrowful smile against his lips. 

 

“Oh.” Her forest couldn’t resist his gentle waves as she peered over her tall empty glass. She felt the milkshake, combined with the three water bottles she drank during practice, made her legs squirm against the booth. “I-I have to go to the restroom.”

 

Betty carried herself towards the small door hidden in the back. The back. The realization struck her when it was too late to turn around. She already reached his table. “Look I’ll just go with her since you wouldn’t take me, Juggie.” The nickname caught her attention making her turn towards the young girl seated against the fallen angel. 

 

His gaze crawled from the bleach white sneakers statued in front of him to her golden locks, getting caught for a second too long at the cotton shorts that hugged her frame perfectly. The waves crashed against the forest sand. A choppy breath released through his slightly parted lips. “No-uh” Jughead choked under her stare, causing him to become memorized by the buzzing cars behind her light. “Jellybean, don’t annoy the g-girl you can wait.”

 

“I’m not annoying her,” The pigtails turned towards the ponytail standing in front of her. She scooted down the cold booth, reaching out with her little legs and hopping off with the bounce of her ruffled tutu. “I’m not annoying you right?” The young girl’s voice rose in innocence as she grabbed the angel’s fallen hand, gently wrapping her stubby fingers in the warmth she raided. 

 

“N-no…” Her haze arose from the chipped nail polish holding onto her to the moon shining brightly against the dark night. “Not at all.” She didn’t know where it came from. The confidence. The snap of her tongue. The burn of her flame. But it slapped him across the face, leaving her to slip a smirk as she walked off hand in hand with his little sister jumping at her side. 

 

“I’m Jellybean by the way!” Her cheeks flooded cherry as her face scrunched under the beaming smile she bore. Her pale blue reminded the goddess so much of the devil’s skies. “But call me Jelly or Bean, but Juggie only calls me that.” 

 

“Hi Jelly, I’m Betty.” She felt the young girl release her small grip. Pushing against the pastel door with a weak grunt only to reconnect their hands and pull her into the large stall in the corner. 

 

“You’re very pretty, Betty,” Her raven waves fell to the side as she tilted her head as if to see the blonde from another angle. 

 

“Thank you,” Betty felt her cheeks grow warm from the light heart she held. 

 

“I think Juggie thinks so too.” Her stubby fingers gripped the band of her tutu before pushing it to melt around her boots.

 

“Why would you think that?” Her eyebrow inched up at the girl’s words. The stall was cold as she leaned against it, crossing her arms in wait. 

 

“Well, he couldn’t keep his eyes off you, duh!” A giggle ripped through her chest. She gripped the seat for dear life, faintly tripping as she sat. “He barely touched his burger too… and Juggie always eats!” 

 

Betty only responded with a slight nod. Millions of scenarios flashed through her mind. Some reason, anything to figure out the thing that flipped his switch. That called the rapid waves. Drove the summer sun into hiding behind the dark storm. “You talk a lot about your brother.” She pushed everything out as she tried to focus on the toothless smile in front of her. 

 

“I love Juggie… he took- wait Betty… Juggie said I can’t tell people because people are mean, but you’re really nice so… wanna know a secret?” Her pale eyes grew large and mouth agape, exposing her missing teeth, as she awaited a response. 

 

“Sure.” Her chest bubbled watching the young girl quickly grab the wall for support after tripping on the skirt wrapped around her feet. Her black paint tugged the material back to hug her waist before skipping to switch spots with Betty. 

 

Jellybean’s pigtails laid against the chipped pink as she plopped down onto the floor. Her untied boots crossed at her ankles while she played with her hands. “Juggie always said mama took off before she knew how amazing I was. He said I was maybe a year or two. He’s taken care of me since then cause daddy’s always drunk and mean.” She kept her view on her nails, picking at the leftover black. Her whole demeanor changed. She fell from the light and was thrown into the shade.

 

Betty watched her with a heavy heart that fell hard against her rib cage. “He sounds like a nice boy.” Her throat tightened at the thought of him. The way he holds her and every broken piece of her soul together. Of course, he would do the same to his sister. She could almost see him cradling her in his strong arms. The small smile he bears as if in fear of an outsider catching the devil without his flames roaring around him. But alone, in the dark, he was just an ordinary boy with a heart too big for his own good. A wrongly predicted weather report of deadly storms when instead it was a clear sky full of soft sun rays. 

 

She stood from the seat, cleaning and letting the roar bounce across the walls. She left the door open for a pair of boots to trip behind her. Giggling at the bounce of her tutu as she jumped to the tall sink placed in front of the wall of mirrors. Though even on the tip of her toes and stretching her arm so much so Betty worried it would pop from her shoulder, the small fingers never reached the water. “Here.” The goddess hooked her hands underneath her arms, gripping the cold leather, and lifting her to rest up top the counter and giving her the height to touch the soap. The young girl smiled in gratitude as she quickly rinsed her hands underneath the faucet only to wipe the cold water on her tutu rather than the paper placed beside her. 

 

Betty caught her reflection as the soap foamed around her fingers. She gulped at her appearance, instantly feeling the tightness spread through her chest like poison. She felt her skin itch at the untidiness she held. Her eyes hesitantly turned away with a frown staining her features. Oblivious to the pale eyes that stared at her, swimming in admiration. 

 

“I like your hair! It’s so pretty!” She watched as the clouds cleared and the sun came out, once again, in the young girl's eyes as if a storm never loomed in her skies. 

 

She smiled, touching the stands tickling her neck. “Really?” Her voice rose, slipping a sound of insecurity. An uncertainty of being without the neatness. After years of feeling the pain of her ponytail shoot through her head, it felt wrong to be without it. Dirty is what her mother would describe it. Untidy of her to leave her curls untamed is what she would repeat till her daughter’s ears bled. 

 

“Yeah! Your curls are like mine, see!” The beam she possessed shattered the frown she held moments before. A giggle tickled through her chest as the young girl swayed her raven locks to the faded sound of the jukebox outside the pastel bathroom. 

 

“I don’t know I think your curls are the prettiest I’ve ever seen,” The goddess graced her fingers over the rosy cheeks in front of her. “Come on, Jelly, we should go before we scare your brother.” 

 

With a little help from the blonde, Jellybean hopped down from the counter with a large, toothless smile in place. She instantly followed the pearly shoes in front of her, grabbing the angel’s hand as it hung down in her view. She observed in adoration of the sun rays surrounding her frame and creating a perfectly shaped halo over her golden locks. The warmth she radiated comforted her frigid fingers, making her never want to let go and leave the kind Northsider. 

 

Betty watched as Jughead’s eyes flew across every detail of the diner, crawling the buzzing parking lot to the roller skating waiters and waitresses as if placing the scenery in his mind. Her eyebrow inched up as she watched his palms rub together and his knee shakes underneath the booth, nervous actions that didn’t suit his image. An easy exhale blew from his chapped lips at the connection of forest sand and salty waves before he tore himself away. Her heart fluttered at the smile that slipped from the lines of his features when he saw his little sister jumping back into his embrace. 

 

“Hey, Bean.” His fingers ruffled the top of the raven pigtails that laid against his leather. “U-uh thank you Bet-... um?” His tongue twisted in his mouth under her stare. The burning desire of her warmth, her touch, her kisses, her everything wasn’t helping the spider web he caught himself in. 

 

“Betty, Betty Cooper,” She reached her hand out with a sparkle shining brightly in the iris of her eye. He could almost feel the amusement pouring from her with a hint of a smirk against her soft lips. His hand shook as he stretched to meet the dangerous, but exhilarating, contact of dark and light. She spoke softly at the feel of his calloused palms against her scars, batting her lashes at the boy. “And you are?”

 

“Jughead Jones,” Everything disappeared. Everything but the glowing aura she wore. The fear that clogged his veins vanished and was replaced by the never-ending warmth she radiated. All thoughts of ghoulies and surrounding Northsiders fell from his mind, filled by her beaming smile; one that made his heart hammer against his ribcage. 

 

“Nice to meet you,” Their hands fell back to their respected sides and hung dead from the loss. “I should be going now.” Her emerald green flew back to her booth and the chocolate eyes burning into her skin. 

 

“No! Sit with Juggie and me,” Jellybean perked up and patted the seat in front of her as if guiding the girl over. “Right, Juggie?” Her pale blue shot to the midnight moon seated next to her. 

 

“Yeah-“ He was cut off by a buzz against his leg. He fumbled with his pocket, reaching down and grabbing his phone. The screen shined a warning. A message of caution from one of his fellow Serpents. The words clouded his mind and drew the rain from his clouds. “No, we’re leaving, come on Jellybean.” 

 

The smile slipped from her face as her heart fell hard. She saw it before he spoke. Saw the clouds form and the lighting strike from his skies. Poison flooded her chest as her breathing began to pick up, along with the infectious thoughts. The same ones that whispered into her ear pulled her nails to her palms and laughed at the blood that stained her porcelain skin. 

 

“What? No, Juggie!” His fingers hooked underneath his sister’s arms, picking her up and dropping her onto the checkered floor. A pout formed along her young features as she stared back at the goddess. “I’m not leaving!” 

 

His boots had carried him a short distance away before he turned back to her raven curls. “Now, Forsythia.” His tone was cold and low. Though, his storm didn’t dare loom over the tender forest. Her pale eyes grew large as her hands rubbed together as if to stop them from shaking. 

 

Betty stood with her view turned down to her sneakers. Her teeth ground together to stop the words she wished to say to escape from her lips for under the stares of the diner she would never dare. She saw the untied boots turn towards her in the corner of her eye. She didn’t have it in her to face either of the Jones, so instead, she forced a whisper, “Go on… I-I couldn’t stay anyway.” 

 

She lifted her head. She didn’t know why, or how. The only excuse she could conquer was that the pull was so strong, too strong to fight against. He was a black hole, a constant nag at her heart until she felt his skin against hers. A feeling of incomplete. It always grew stronger the closer they were. It wasn’t only her. She knew he felt it too, for she could see past the rain that clouded her vision, see the rays of light that begged to be shown. 

 

“Bye, Betty.” She barely heard the small girl mutter, barely felt the vibration of her own bid goodbye, through the sounds of the storm looming over her. His eyes glanced away only to fall back into her burning gaze. A shaky breath fell from his chapped lips. His head shook slightly before breaking the contact completely. Running far and fast from her and the vigorous pull woven into their heavy hearts. 

 

The chime of the bell brought everything back to her. The sound of scrabbling plates and crowded whispers flooded her ears. Betty’s green flew across every detail of the diner, searching for the familiar pairs of brown eyes. 

 

Her feet brought her back to Kevin and Veronica without her permission. She dropped hard against the rain-spattered window. Sleep called her as she shut her lashes. She was drained, drained from the high she shot from and engulfed with the forgotten exhaustion. 

 

“What the hell was that?” Every stare fell upon the girl with the blonde ponytail. Persephone was roaming the earth and sat before their very eyes. Witnesses to the connection of light and dark. 

 

“What?” Her cheek rubbed against the window as she turned her gaze to her friends. 

 

“What the hell just happened?!” 

 

“What do you mean?” Betty perked up in her booth at the raise of her best friend’s voice. 

 

“He’s a criminal- no, I’m sorry, he’s the most dangerous person in New York!” Veronica’s hands flew through the air as a dry laugh slipped from her lips, eyes as sharp as her tongue. “And you just talked to him. You basically played house with his sister! And you aren’t fazed? Do you know what he’s done?!”

 

Her breathing grew as her heart threatened to break through her chest at the speed it pumped. Her blood was growing in heat, boiling as it flew through her veins. “It’s nothing, Veronica.” It was meant to fall from her lips as if she was unfazed, unaffected by him and his midnight sky, but an emotion that she didn’t even know hung in her heart slipped; oblivious to her fellow Northsiders. 

 

“He’s the king of the serpents! he…” Her words faded into the void. The thoughts amplified, blocking out all sound. They whispered into her ear, urging for the color of crimson. She tried to argue with them but her throat was beginning to close, and her words were getting lost against her tongue. A battle was fought inside the girl’s mind. A fight to hold the wall blocking the waterworks. A fight to keep her lungs inhaling. But no one saw. Her mask had become so familiar, too familiar for they forgot what she looked like without it. 

 

“... they were found half dead! He-“ She didn’t feel the pierce against her crescents, didn’t feel the heat rising in her palms as the blood fell from her scars. But she did feel the fire raging in her chest as the rain poured from her grey clouds. “Betty-BETTY!”

 

A flash of nail polish few across her vision, breaking her from the trance she fell in. “What?” She turned her view to her chocolate eyed friends only to be met with frowns. 

 

“Have you been listening to a word I’ve been saying?” She released a scoff as her fingers played with the pearls wrapped around her neck.

 

“Yes but-“ 

 

“So you know he’s a horrible human being-“ 

 

“God, Veronica, stop! It was- It-“ He flashed through her mind. The way his kiss spread warmth through her body, even when her skin erupted in goosebumps from the cold rain. The way his leather felt so good compared to the sweaters that made her itch. The way his waves crashed against her shore. But somewhere, something changed, and he no longer looked at her with billions of stars but instead just bleak darkness. “It was nothing.” 

 

A wave emotion engulfed her, drowned her in her own thoughts. The movie her mind created promised no happy ending for the girl with the blonde ponytail and the boy with the raven curls. 

 

She could feel their eyes on her. Almost hear the unspoken words lying on their tongues. Almost see the thoughts spiraling in their heads as they tried to solve the puzzle that was Betty Cooper. But she couldn’t take it anymore. She left without another word, another glance their way. Leaving only a smudge of blood against the cold door handle as her goodbye. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so sorry this took forever! I had horrible writers block and I write kinda slow (oop). Anyway I'm kinda proud because this is the most I've ever written :)
> 
>  
> 
> yeah I hit you will a cliffhanger... did'nt intend to but i meannnnnn
> 
>  
> 
> thank you so much for reading your kudos and comments warm my cold heart 
> 
> infinite xoxoxo, 
> 
> char <3


	5. restless demons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty Cooper laid in her bed, draped in the moonlight shining upon the crimson alining her palms, the shuddered breaths, and restless eyes. She couldn't stop pacing. Eager to escape her room but had nowhere to head to. At least that's what she thought before she ended up in front of the large white house covered in the shadows of the cold night with a fire of pain and anger coursing through her veins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *SELF HARM*
> 
> so so sorry this took forever!!! I am horrible at updating and I want to make everything to the best of my ability (I feel like this one isn't the best but it's okay) 
> 
> I love all feedback and also IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND A METAPHOR OR SCENE PLEASE ASK I would totally understand as my writing is kinda complicated. 
> 
> thank you so much for reading :)

Betty didn’t know why she was there. Sitting in front of the stop light as red shined down upon her, blending in with her pale features. Her mind was gone and body slack. The only thing she felt was the heavy beats of her heart against her bruised rib cage and the sting of her scars along the cold steering wheel. It was all that reminded her that she was still breathing.

 

She had deeply questioned her sanity as she laid starring towards the moon hours before. She wanted to laugh at the joke she became. The cliche she fell for. She convinced herself that anyone would fall if they felt the way he was, the way he made her feel, but that only made everything worse, cause, of course, she had to be the stereotypical girl. The girl she desperately tried not to become. But even after freezing herself off to many cute smiles and innocent study dates, he somehow caught her off guard and slipped through her chains.

 

It made her livid. The sadness turned to anger. The fires erupted after the flood.  He gave her the taste of darkness. What it feels like hidden in the shadows. The rush of dancing in the burning flames. Only to shut it all off, as if there were a switch in this game of fragile hearts. She wanted to scream at the unfairness. Scream till her throat grew raw and her hands stained forever crimson. She wanted to cry out. To release all of the tension spreading like poison through her lungs. Something inside her crushed at the sight of his bleak midnight sky, so loud she almost feared he heard the crash bounce through the diner. To see the way he stood unaffected in front of her; leaving her to feel everything for both of them.

 

Billions of thoughts ran through her head, only to become white noise as they spilled out her ear. She doesn’t know when she decided to grab her keys, forgetting the chill of walking out into the cold night air as she fell into her car. She only knew where she was going because of Google and the simple tying of ‘Serpent gang leader’s house’. It still surprised her when the location of a complex filled with million dollar mansions popped up and Siri began her way.

 

So there she sat. Gone of all emotions before the change of red to green shined against her emerald eyes. A shaky breath slipped from her lips as almost an act of regret, or maybe fear, on her impulsive decision. Though her foot pressed on before she gave her mind the chance to wonder once more.

 

She would have turned around at the sight of the golden gates with harsh whispers falling from her tongue and a nervous pull against her chapped lip, one that would have promised to break the dry skin and draw blood to the surface. But a pair of warm eyes caught her attention and conveyed her before the room bright with screens reflecting the acts that occurred under the view of cameras around the complex.

 

“H-hi.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. Soft and faint as she felt her forgotten anxiety creep up into her throat, manipulating her vocal cords in the process. She felt everything once again. As if the sight of the man brought her back to the surface and revived her from the drowning of her own emotions. She nearly winced at the graze of her palm against the steering wheel as a heartbeat pumped into the raw flesh.

 

“Hello there.” The man’s eyes almost folded at the beaming smile he wore. His chocolate orbs followed the shake of her fingers and nervous bob of her throat before reaching for his clipboard. “Who are you here for?” He spoke softer as a small attempt to calm the storm raging through the forest caught in her young eyes.

 

She felt his view fall towards her as she tried to gather her mind after it spilled to a puddle in her lap. “Who- oh um…” Her teeth scraped against each other as her jaw wired shut. Her emeralds flew to the dark homes before her, the ones hidden in the shadows of the night. Her fingernail tapped against the leather as she finally decided to jump, even when she was afraid of the fall that laid ahead. “Jughead Jones.”

 

The man’s brows flew to his hairline as his ruff wrinkles scrunched together. “Mr. Jones doesn’t have anyone on his list, Ma’am.”

 

“Of course he doesn’t.” The whisper flew from her lips and flowed into the void. Her head fell to her stained hands as if it weighed as much as a bowling ball. A sharp scoff ripped from her chest as she began to feel the pain all over again. The tightness crept back into her throat, pulling it together and shortening her chopping breaths. She released a deep and defeated sigh as the sound of her surrender. “Sorry, er-I’ll just be going now.”

 

He watched as the words pulled water into her young, beautiful eyes. He shook his head at the words that violated his rules, the same ones that he spoke to the broken heart before him. “Do you have any evidence that Mr. Jones knows you?”

 

Betty’s hair whipped through the wind as she turned towards the kind smile once more. Every moment, every encounter she had with the gang leader flashed through her mind as she tried to pluck something that would do her some good in this very moment. “Oh! Yeah-yes, actually I do!” Part of her lips pulled into a soft half grin as she reached for her phone placed in the empty seat next to her. The light shined against her porcelain skin as her finger tapped the screen until it came upon what she searched for.

 

The man leaned forward, pulling his small glasses father up his nose as he squinted at the image she displayed. The same girl laid in the corner of the picture. Though in this, she was relaxed, calm even. Polar to the way she sat before him with shaky hands and timid whispers. Her hair lay spread like golden sun rays, almost tangling with a mess of raven curls. The infamous brood boy, Jughead Jones, slept gently against her soft smile. His mouth lay slight agape as every feature on his young face was relaxed. A sight the man swore he had never seen before in all the years he had known the boy. The colors of pink and red painted into their features, only adding to the pureness of the innocence captured at that moment.

 

Her heart skipped a beat at the action of his chocolate falling back into her emerald. The wrinkles reappeared as a warm grin pulled at his cheeks. “House #13,” His voice was muffled as he reached for the gate button. “Tell him I said hello,” was all his kind heart spoke before they parted ways.

 

“Thank you, again.” Her foot presses forward as the tall gates parted around her car. Her lungs almost grew icy as she breathed in short breaths as if she had run for miles on end. “Shit.” Her voice was barely audible, below a mumble as her eyes caught the number she had been in search for.

 

The house was beyond her imagination. Something that almost brought fear into the surrounding neighborhood homes by its height and size. It stood hidden at the end of the complex, covered by large trees that paved a pathway to the front door. It was intimidating, whispering her to leave and forever stay away from the demons that lived beyond the doors. Windows bordered the large walls, each covered with thick curtains to block every beam of light from the outside as if the devil would burn after living under the moon for so long. Her eyes flicked over to the window nearest to the two elegant doors. A shuffle caught her attention, causing a ray of light to beam against the ground before her till it fell dark once more. She almost felt her mind screaming for her to leave but she pressed on with the fire burning through her nerves to guide her.

 

The wind was strong as it whipped through her golden locks. Her footsteps sounded too loud as the crunch of the dried leaves traveled to the stars hanging above. She swallowed in an act to water her dry throat. And there she stood. With frigid fingertips and a racing heartbeat staring at the gold outlining the two doorknobs. She searched for a bell, anything to signal her presence before she ran for the hills, but came up with nothing. Betty barely felt her fingers curl as she rose her hand to the cold wood. She stood to wait. Waiting for what, she could never say. Maybe a scream in the distance, something to force her away from falling for the angel of death. Or maybe for him to open the door as if he had known she was there. To wrap his warmth around her and engulf her in his intoxicating scent. But she knew that would never come and before she fully analyzed her actions, her muscles ached and she pounded against the only barrier to hell itself.

 

The sound pounded in her mind, banging against her skull and haunting her thoughts. It triggered her heart rate to spike with chopping soft breaths ripping through her lungs. Her legendary pacientance grew wary. Screaming children and disappointed mothers never broke it, but maybe this would. Her hand fell, dead, to her side. Defeated and tired. Her body ached in agony, urging to fall into a pool of warmth and close her strained eyes. Maybe her anxieties were right. She should have never come. Should have listened to the voices and given into the poison streaming through her veins. She choked on the tightness traveling up her throat. She nearly tripped on her toes as she began to fall back into bed with her demons.

 

That was until a beam of light cast down upon the small smudges of her shoelaces and her head flew to the now open doors. “Go away, FP!” His voice was strained, almost as if he was as tired and torn as the golden girl before him. The yell startled the angel causing her small frame to jump, an action that caught a pair of midnight eyes. The raven waves flew through the air as he looked to the widen emerald orbs staring hard into his olive skin. “Betty?” His tone held disbelief as he tried to blink away the dream that he must have been drowning in.

 

She felt her skin almost tickle at the feeling of his intoxicating darkness travel along her body with the intense gaze of his eyes as if his demons escaped him and roamed freely to touch the smooth porcelain once again. He caught the nervous nag of her light grey sweater with her slightly pink fingertips. Saw the way a swarm of chills engulfed her exposed shoulders, traveling down to her memorable collar bone where an almost fainted mark lay. He fell back to her forest. Admiring the blossoming leaves, stained with an exotic green, as he leaned against the cold wood in wait of her response.

 

She wanted to speak. Though she wanted to do a lot of contradicting things at that moment, things that pulled her every which way and she didn’t know what to listen to. Her haunting demons ripped at her clothes, urging her back to her safe and secure life with sharp whispers. But her angel’s sang an entrancement from afar with her nerves, the blood pulsing through her veins and a rapid heartbeat; all that called, pleading, for his warmth, for the way his touch felt against her skin and lips on hers.

 

So she spoke on the adrenaline pumping through her, ignoring the screams that made her ears bleed and decided to swim with the waves falling at her feet. “Can I come in?”

 

His mouth grew dry as he tried to swallow away the words he wished to speak against his tongue, responding with only a nod and slight change in position against the doorframe to let her through. He fumbled with his hands, pulling at the stands hanging loosely from his sweatpants as if to keep away from grazing her beckoning touch as she passed and stepped into the hellfire that killed most.

 

The house was bigger on the inside. Though it was hard to see every inch of the room as only a few beams of light from the lamps hanging in the kitchen could reach the distance, feeding into the chill that hung around the pounding hearts. Everything was out of order as the place was covered with the ghosts of his family. Fallen beer bottles scattered the black couch placed next to the dying fire, with a few rolling closer to the marble countertops. Markers and broken crayons laid on pages of unfinished artwork. A brown substance spilled and overcame all of the bright, exotic colors painted across the paper. Plates of cold food spread along the sparkling counters with utensils thrown in the sink.

 

She could feel his gaze glued to her with every second that passed. She could barely decipher where the warmth radiating and blanketing her body came from, his stare or the fire crackling nearby. She finally connected with his cautious waves, letting the feeling of them beat against her sand and overtake her soul once more. His eyes flickered to her soft lips as they pulled into a small smile while she spoke, “It’s cute. I like the drawings, they’re-“

 

“What are you doing here?” His midnight moon beamed brightly against her forest as he stared deep into it. Inspecting every leaf, the sand near the shore, and the towering trees. Falling deep into her eyes and never daring to look away until he reached her soul.

 

His voice was almost as cold as the ocean salt brushing against her ankles. Her tongue fumbled in her mouth, tripping over the contradicting words she tried to speak. But then she felt it. A faint sound of thunder erupted through the air and it flashed through his dark eyes, a stroke of light against the drowning darkness. Without meaning to, the lighting lit aflame a dying spark in her chest and started the wildfire she tried so hard to repress.

 

“What-What am I doing here?!” She laughed, feeling the fire burn brighter at the sight of the storm clouds forming in his dark eyes. “Honestly, Jughead, I don’t know. Seriously! I mean a few days ago I was writing my English essay, laying in bed fucking wondering which football boy was the cutest if I ever had to choose and now-“ Another chilling laugh rippled through her throat. She couldn’t help but shake her head, trying to form the anger, the frustration, into words.

 

A pause fell between the two as the fire grew in her chest and the storm brewed in his. Her eyes finally fit back into his stare, piercing his soul. The angel stepped closer to the devil before her, speaking slowly and steadily as she did so, “Now I’m here. Here in this huge ass house.” Her hands gestured to the mansion around them while her eyes stayed glued to the darkening clouds. “Standing in front a Serpent. _The_ Serpent. The fucking leader, Jughead Jones! And why? I don’t know! All I know is that I was standing on a roof when a storm came and a strange man helped me back inside. From there, I don’t know what happened!”

 

Another step closer. “You fucked me up, Jones.” Both chests rose and fell in a fast rhythm, almost touching, with two hearts pounding as if to try and break free to reach the other. “I felt something. Something I didn’t know existed. And maybe I’m the stereotypical girl who falls for a guy before she truly knows him. And maybe this would have been embarrassing if I hadn’t known you, Jughead Jones, felt the same shit I did. I can see it when I touch you.”

 

The fallen angel plagued in darkness almost tripped as he tried to step away from her touch, a spark of warm light, as if in fear of the truth that lies in her words. As if she was right, and of course she was for when her soft, polish nails brushed the fabric of his shirt and pressed against the muscle in his chest, his body reacted. For a split moment in time, his features soften. The clouds parted and a sky full of stars shined down upon the pair. His heart sped with the blood pumping faster through his veins. Every nerve was on fire and his soul was light.

 

But he opened his eyes again. Stood taller and harder above her small frame. Everything was dark as his demons crowded them, bringing a chill to the air. The rain fell like bullets and drenched her messy blonde ponytail. Thunder sounded in the distance. Lighting threatened to strike at their feet. He was cold once more. Gone of all light for he fought against his heart, choosing to follow his head. “Doesn’t matter. None of it matters, Betty. It’s over-whatever we had is gone.”

 

“Says who?”

 

“Says me, Elizabeth.”

 

The tip of her toes rose at the name. Climbing closer to the height she wished to reach, to stare straight into the gloom. “And you think it works like that?” Another chill broke along his skin at the sound of her scoff. “You can’t just do that. I’m not one of your Serpents. You can’t tell me what to do and you sure as hell can’t shut me out after- after whatever this-,” Her hands gestured between the two of them, “is.”

 

“I can and I will.” He leaned closer to the point where she could feel his hot breath blow against her face as he spoke.

 

“Why? Huh?” Her hands landed back on his chest, harder and stronger than before and with a different intention. “You do this for fun?” The muscles in her arms rose as she pushed against his weight. “You like to mess with girls feelings?” He fell limp, letting her pound at his chest and force him closer to the door. “Huh?!” Betty’s throat tightens with each word. She opened Pandora's box the second her eyes connected with his and there was no way of closing it. “You like to mess with-” Another strike. “-my-” Her palms drove flat into his muscles. “-feelings?!” His back was thrust against the cold wall.

 

His eyes never left hers. Not when she broke his gaze and stared at the black fabric clinging to his frame, her target. Not when he heard her breathes grow choppier, shorter to his own. Not when he almost felt the urge to wince at the feeling of her nails trying to break at his skin. His tongue was still. His vocal cords felt weak. His jaw shut as he watched the light dim in her features. It was quiet for a second, though neither noticed for their aching heartbeats filled their ears, blocking all sound bouncing through the room.

 

“I can’t be just another one of your toys.” Her hands formed fists, wrapping around his shirt and banging at him causing his body to beat against the wall once more. “I can’t.” She fell back into his stare. Tightening her jaw before she spoke, “Jughead Jones-”

 

The calluses lining his fingertips grazed her wrist as he wrapped his hands around both of them. Coming to life, standing strong, and facing her fight. His knees straightened to his full height, watching as her head adjusted to his towering frame while holding every second of the intense pause. “You’re not just another toy.” Though the words held emotion, his tone stood in contrast. Every wave crashed with a dangerous strength. Building up to a great height to only fall with a strong force of gravity beating onto her sandy beaches.

 

He pulled her grip away from him after he felt her hold loosened from the stressed fabric. Betty’s arms swung dead to her sides. She stood taller at the move of his feet in an attempt to leave the company of the wall. “You say that but you never answered the real question… Why?” Her chin rose, as did her chest, awaiting his response.

 

“No.”

 

“God, you’re so fucking stubborn!” The polish nails grazed the sore porcelain skin before breaking deep into the raw cuts. “Just say it! Tell me, you fucking coward-”

 

“Because of you, Cooper!” He waved his hand down her whole frame. “Because of your perfect blonde hair-” His fingers lightly twisted around her loose curls. “-because of you’re incredibly soft skin-” Now brushing the slight blush that stained her features. “-because of your tight sweaters and blindingly white sneakers!” He dropped back to his respected side. Resisting the urge to smooth the wrinkles littering her forehead as her eyebrows furrowed together. He spoke before her as if he could sense her tongue beginning to rise. “You, Elizabeth, do not belong with me. You and every perfect thing about you could never, ever, work with my damaged ass. Your parents are there to hold you, love you, and mine are gone. You saw those beer bottles! I have a whole fucking gang on my back, a sister to raise and a father to parent! You have nothing to worry about, you have a perfect life-”

 

The sharp sound struck the walls, bouncing through the air for what felt like an eternity. The print of her small hand began to form along the line of his cheek. To her dismay, she choked on a sob. Tears threatened to cloud her vision of the fallen angel’s profile. Her hands flew to her mouth as a cry rippled through her body. Jughead’s view flew to the blood staining her porcelain features where her hands had been pressed against just a moment before. Her eyes were glued to his cheek as an ocean dripped down her neck. His mind was clouded and confused as he rose to his burning skin. She fled steps away from him as if to run away from the truth he was about to uncover.

 

Blood covered his fingers. His eyebrows narrowed as he stared to the red fluid that couldn’t possibly come from him, not from that slap. It came together at the rushed sight of her palms before she hid her hands behind her back. “No.” It was a soft whisper that flew past his slightly parted lips with a series of rushed breathes. His own throat became to tighten at the thought. The belief that his angel could ever feel pain, feel so much wrenching distress that she would be driven to sink her nails into her sacred skin. “No, Betts… no.” He said the words as if they would change the truth.

 

Her whole body shook, from her unstable legs to her fingertips. It was uncontrollable. The anxiety took over. The truth hurt much more when another knew it. When _he_ knew it. She couldn’t breathe. Every ounce of air was sucked from her at the sight of the tear that blended into the blood splattered across his cheek. She reached for her sweater, gripping hard into the fabric in an insist to gasp for air. “I-” Her voice was lost for her throat was too tight and her vocal cords were too strained.

 

He saw her knees wobble as they began to protest against her weight. His arms were around her body before she fell to the cold marble. She was slack, weak, in his hold as everything, all the burdens stored behind her heavily locked chains spilled onto his ruined t-shirt. The angel of death, with the help of his demons, carried her closer to the dying fire before he collapsed onto the couch. Falling onto the forgotten glass bottles though he didn’t mind the discomfort, not when all he could feel was the ripples of pain overcoming her body.

 

Jughead concentrated on the hot breathes hitting his ear. Counting the seconds between each, soothing the broken goddess with gentle strokes down her back, through her now loose waves, and along her limp legs cradling on top of his own; anything to remind her that he was there. For he knew she could feel his warmth coursing through her veins. Silent tears swam through his eyes, some fell past his chambers when his guard fell, but he held himself together. Ironically, her broken pieces mended with his and each began to feel whole once more.

 

“I-I’m sorry, baby.” He choked against the knot stuck in his throat, speaking only after several minutes passed. Only after the panic left her body when everything grew even again and the storm vanished from her forest. Only after he felt a light tickle course through his hair as her fingertips played with the curls on the back of his neck. Only after the fire finally blew out and the pair were left in the dark with nothing but their sense of touch to guide them. “I-I don’t know what to-um… f-fuck.” He tried not to gasp at his throat growing tighter with each word he fought to speak. Maybe he should have waited a little moment longer to recollect himself and for the tears to fully leave his eyes.

 

“I-” Hades buried his mouth against Persephone’s neck in an attempt to feel her calming pulse as if the beat would soothe his into her same rhythm. He laid a gentle kiss to the porcelain skin, tasting the salt of his tears as one slipped before she lifted herself to meet his stare. Her hands followed the lines along his neck till she reached his soft, heated cheeks. He could feel the gentle tickle of her wounds grazing him, still raw and radiating periods of warmth. She knew the blood staining him had dried though the tears were still fresh.

 

“Don’t.” Soft and gentle just as her thumb circling patterns along his features. Betty felt his chest tense at her words. Her undeniably kind soul healing his, even when it’s been promised to chaos and imprisoned to the burning flames of pain. “It’s okay-“ His deep breathes stopped altogether as if he had commanded his lungs to rest. Jughead laid his head back, exposing his neck as he faced the ceiling above. She could almost feel his tension in her own muscles.

 

She knew what he was doing, or at least trying to do. Gather his pieces by himself, recollect the tears and tear the stars from his sky. An instinctive act. A coping mechanism. One that helped him survive bullets and flying fists. But it grew out of control for he no longer knew how to feel, knew how to process emotions. “Hey, no.” Betty’s hands traveled, gentle rubbing as she went along the strained muscles of his neck before she found the rebellious curls once again. “Don’t do that.” She guided him back to her gaze and though they were in the dark she could have sworn she could see his moon glowing brightly in the iris of his tormented eyes.

 

Nothing was calming his soul. Her soft whispers and gentle touch could only go so far. “Juggie.” His cheek pressed against her palm as he turned from her voice to stare into the oblivion. “Hey.” The word slipped from her lips falling neatly against his as she leaned forward and stitched his wounds with her delicate tongue.

 

It was long and slow. Kind with each sweep and barely pulling away for air. They were finally connected. Hearts beating to the same rhythm, souls light, voices mute. Jughead’s hands cradled her waist, grabbing around her back to hug her frame and hold closer to her warmth.

 

Their breaths filled the room when they finally pulled away, heavily hanging in the air. Noses pressed against the other, lips only a centimeter apart, eyes closed and sleeping in the beauty of it all for as long as they could. He was the one to speak first, smiling lightly towards her long yawn. “Let’s go sleep, baby.”

 

Betty only replied with a slight nod with her heavy head. Her legs began to untwine from his before his large palms smoothed over her thighs, lifting them both from the couch in a swift move. She crossed her ankles around his back and wrapped her long sleeves around his neck, resting her blonde curls against the warmth of his chest.

 

Jughead held her as they walked up the staircase painted marble, leaving behind the remains of their tears and resistance. He was only guided by the bright beams sent by the moon, casting down and reflecting along the cold floors, till he reached his room lit by the city skyline. He placed her along his disheveled sheets, smiling down at her groan.

 

Her body curled into itself without his to hold. He watched from above as her eyes flew to the window with the reflection of the city in her irises. He smiled softly before turning to his bathroom and switching the bright light on. One would feel fear at the sight that mirror shone. The scene that covered his features. The blood staining his cheeks, some faint against his neck. Eyes bloodshot and tired from the act of his wall falling. But they must look closer. To see the small tug of his lips. The rapid beat of his heart and warmth blanketing his soul. To see the waves were calm and kind against the shore.

 

Jughead reached for the small cloth to the right of his sink, wetting it before he began to wipe away the remains of their released pain. He knew she had turned back to him, forgetting the view for nothing could compare to him and the incredible beauty captured in his darkness. A smirk pulled at his chapped skin at its own free will, an instinctive act that happened only when she was involved. Once his reflection was no longer bleached in dried crimson, he moved to lean against the door connecting his bathroom to his bedroom.

 

“You should shower.” The words fell from his mouth, traveling along her body with his intense gaze. “And I’ll help.”

 

“Oh, you think you’re so funny,” Betty lifted her body into a sitting position with a lazy grin slipping across her features. “My king makes jokes now.”

 

“ _My_ king?” His eyebrow lifted, lightly brushing a rebellious curl that had fallen from its restrainment. His smirk intensified at the wave of faint pink flooding her features.

 

The butterflies awoke and flew in a chaotic manner around the walls of her stomach. Her mouth fell agape as she tried to stutter an excuse before parting with his strong midnight contact. Her head slightly shook as she turned towards the city once more, “I didn’t say that.” Betty lifted herself from the sheets, only connecting with his gaze after she walked around his bed and towards his slouched frame. “You’re hearing things, Jones” Her hand patted his worn shirt lightly as she spoke.

 

“Oh really?” His eyebrows raised with his words. Gaze shining down to her plump lips pulling into a wide grin.

 

Her whole body was buzzing underneath his stare as she drifted closer to press against his frame and the door. Her eyes sparkled in pride at his instant reaction. Gone was his smug attire as if butterflies of his own swarmed his now tense chest. Her delicate hand traveled from his worn shirt to the patch of curls on the back his neck, lightly tempting the skin with her soft patterns.

 

His breaths grew choppier but the second. Falling harder into her enchantment. A siren he could never stray from. Sailing to his impending death with every song she sang, crashing time and time again with the words of her songs. He fell towards the action of her tongue sweeping against the skin of her slightly swollen lips. His Adam's apple bobbed in his throat as he nearly choked. “You’re killing me.” It was deep and rooted from the bottom of his chest, vibrating through her body as she pressed further into him.

 

She suppressed the urge to smile as she stood taller. Balancing only on the top of her toes, Betty leaned into his strained breathes, aligning their mouths. She saw his midnight eyes flutter at the action before they shut at the faint touch of her soft lips, not fully connected as he waited to follow her lead. Though she watched intensely at his features and in utter awe of her power she had over the poor boy. The effect of a tainted angel. She couldn’t help but grin as her polished nail moved from his hair to the tight alignment of his jaw, causing his breath to stop altogether. A giggle rippled through her as she stepped away from him and into the bathroom.

 

Jughead’s eyes flew open at the loss of her warmth, darting to her blushed cheeks as she beamed false innocence. “I need to shower.” Her eyes were dark and full as she waved her soft fingers, the ones he swore he still felt against his cheek. “No peeking.” She whispering through the crack before she shut the door. Leaving him to stare, stunned, at the cravings of the old wood. He choked mumbles into the air, trying desperately to regain his composure.

 

His slightly shaky fingers raked through his dark waves, pulling the woven crown from its placement and setting it to his right, on top of his dresser. “Shit.” It was a buzz he’d never felt in his life. An adrenaline rush more intoxicating than any bullets or fist ever could bring. He found his new high. His new addiction and indefinite deathwish. But one he would gladly burn in flames for.

 

Almost ten minutes passed as the light of his clock shined from his desk, reflecting against the dark paint of his bedside table and his side profile. His scattered moles and delicate freckles were lit as he stared up at his ceiling. He almost felt like a child after receiving buckets of candy. A joy that left him with a racing heart and sweaty palms. Jughead shot up at the sound of the last water droplets hitting his shower drain and the distant shuffling of her feet along his cold title.

 

The walls of his room were engulfed in the light of the bathroom as the door swung open, revealing a very wet and very naked Betty Cooper. Her usual blonde locks were almost brown as the curls dropped along her collar bone, sweeping the small towel she held tightly against her chest. His mind was slow at processing the scene before him. The absolute goddess clouded his thoughts and stunned his movement. “You’re staring.” She giggled.

 

“H-How could any sane man not?” He choked against the words falling clumsily from his lips. Smiling lightly at the rush of pink flooding her pale features as she turned her emerald eyes to his dresser, in slight hope that looking away from his wide pupils would calm her soaring butterflies. He watched her pull the drawers open and grab one of his signature _‘S’_ shirts from the pile. She dangled the fabric behind her as she walked back into the fogged room with only a small smirk thrown to his slightly agape lips.

 

The Greeks believed in a goddess by the name of Kakia. One of vice and moral badness. Corrupted in evil. The best temptress known to man. Though the world must never have known the beauty of Elizabeth Cooper. The power she held standing at the foot of his dismantled bed in nothing but _his_ worn shirt hanging from her frame that smelt of _his_ mint body wash drove him mad. His thoughts melted and jumbled along his tongue. “S-shit.” It came out choked. Something between a laugh and heavy exhale. “You’re absolutely beautiful, Betts.” All seriousness was held in the tone of his voice. Gone was his joking dementor.

 

“Stop it.” Her small hands flew to her face in an act to cover the dark flush spreading across her creamy features. Her curls, now slightly dry, bounced along his shirt as she shook her head. In fear of seeing his face but burning with curiosity, the goddess parted her fingers to peek at the shining moon staring deep into her skin. Her faint dimples appeared along the lines of her cheeks at her beaming smile. The sight was one she never wished to forget. Something she would burn into her memory and relive in her dreams. Jughead’s eyes shined bright with the reflection of a thousand shimmering lights swimming in the dark waves of his navy painted irises. Without the restriction of his timeworn beanie, his soft curls cascaded along his olive skin with one nearly blocking his sight of the blonde beauty. Lips, rough at the touch but delicate against her tongue, pulled gently against the lines of his face into a small smile.

 

“Never.” He breathed into the suddenly cold air with a valley of bumps traveling her exposed legs. He gently laughed, loving the way her breath grew slightly heavier by the sound. “You gonna stand there forever, Blondie?” He replaced his wide grin with his infamous smirk. The same one he knew brought her knees to grow weak.

 

A giggle bubbled from the blushed deity as she fell into the warmth of his wrinkled sheets and soft frame. She buried her flushed face into his chest till she suddenly felt it tense. She looked up to see his Adam's apple bob in his throat as he hesitantly met her alluring forest standing tall in her irises. “Hey,” Betty lifted herself to sit upright at the sudden change in demeanor, “what is it, my king?” She felt her lips tug at the words and a giggle start to form in her throat at the spark of amusement that flashed through his stars before it burned into nothing but a windy night. “Hey.” She placed her hands on his olive features, lightly soothing the uneasiness consuming his body.

 

“I was scared.” He spoke, not daring to meet the large emeralds but rather gazing at the halo of blonde curls surrounding the angel cradling his face.

 

“What?” She slightly fell forward in an act of guiding his stare back into her eyes.

 

“I was scared of losing you.” His calloused skin tickled her hair as his hand played with the strains.

 

“You wouldn’t lose me. I won’t leave you, I-”

 

“Not like that, Betty,” He turned once more to her flourishing greens, letting his moonlight reconnect with the leaves of her towering trees. “I mean you getting seriously hurt, possibly killed. What I do is more than dangerous… it’s suicidal. It’s something that I signed up for but-but you didn’t. Why do you think my only friends are the Serpents? I can’t sign another person up for their death sentence.”

 

“Jug, where is this coming from?” Her eyebrows scrunched together causing a handful of worry lines to appear along her forehead, making him almost smile if were a different time.

 

“The Ghoulies.” The lines only grew deeper in her confusion, resulting in an irrepressible tug against his lips. “It’s a rival gang. One with no control nor morals. They used to be in Riverdale, right after the war of the North and South first ended. They were more reckless and deadly than the rest of the South. They killed anyone and everything for their own enjoyment. Kids were being murdered and women were being mistreated left and right. So a group formed and eventually ran them out of town. Those people became the protectors, or guardians, of our small town. Years passed and they grew bigger, gaining a name along the way, the Southside Serpents.” He grinned wide at the mention of his family. “From then on, we stayed in the city while the Ghoulies ran through almost every state along the east coast, never staying in one place for too long till they finally landed in Greendale about five years ago. Since then they’ve been trying to start another war between our gangs. It’s been…” His voice faded out as he tried to find a word that wouldn’t bring fear to the angel wrapped around his legs. “er-controlled since about a few months ago when their new leader started searching for weaknesses. They’re almost everywhere now, watching and waiting for me to slip. And this gang, Betty… they don’t care about lives, no ones- not even their own. And I-”

 

“So we won’t be together in public. We won’t look at each other. It can just stay between you and I. It’ll be private, our little secret. Okay?” Her hands guided his lips closer to hers, letting him feel the heat of her calm breaths against his chapped skin. “Okay?” She repeated, alining him with her burning gaze and freely diving deep into his ocean of blue; allowing herself to drown in the beauty of his crashing waves.

 

“But-”

 

“I can’t let you go, Juggie.” He released a deep breath and leaned his forehead against hers at the sound of her soft whisper. He felt the gentle tickle of her nose against his before she spoke more. “There’s something here. I know it hasn’t been long but it’s- it’s indescribable and it wouldn’t be right to not try.” He closed his eyes at her words, falling closer to her. “You know I’m right.” She giggled, loving the way his features alit at the sound.

 

“We have to be careful, Betts, cause if you-”

 

“Yeah, yeah we will.” Persephone cut Hades off with the crash of her lips against his. It was meant to be a chaste kiss. A quick peck. Though the thought of pulling from the drug of his feel seemed impossible the second she felt the urgency vibrating through his tongue, the way it asked for permission with a swipe along her soft skin and quickly gained it. The heat traveled along her body as if she was engulfed in his flames, dancing in the burn of it all. Chills consumed her with the skills of his tongue making her wish to be closer, to feel more.

 

Two souls played a game of tug a war. Pulling and pushing, rocking back and forth with only quick, heavy breathes every few seconds. Never being able to fully be satisfied, wishing to touch more of the other making Jughead grab the back of Betty’s thighs and place them over his own. He relished in the sound of her gasp. Smirking at the whimper that followed with the loss of his lips as he pulled back. They sat in silence, neither speaking as they watched the other’s chest beat up and down in a choppy rhythm. Trying to regain their breath and slow the beat of their hearts for they almost feared they would almost stop pumping from the intensity and speed consumed at that moment.

 

“We should stop before I-I can’t.” His body contradicted every word he spoke as his dark eyes stayed focused on her now plump lips.

 

“Then we should have thought about that before.” She still breathed heavy.

 

It was almost involuntary, the pull between the two as if they were being pushed together by a puppet master. Lips so close she could almost feel the chapped skin of his. Hot and heavy breathes intertwined. “Betty.” She could barely hear his raspy voice over the need coursing through her veins and buzzing through her head, blocking all thoughts from her mind; all but the thought of what the angel of death’s wicked wings felt like against her soft skin.

 

“Jug- please.” He was hesitant at first. Questioning if he was worth the touch of her golden rays of light. Her soft lips against his neck. Her delicate fingers tickling his raven locks. Her quickening breathes. Her rapid heart rate pounding against his chest, almost matching to his very own beat. If his shadows of death deserved the embrace of her warmth. Though he knew the moment he first drowned in the beauty of her forest eyes, with the reflections of a thousand city lights and an enduring green he vowed would forever be his favorite sight, no one would ever hold enough value to call Elizabeth (“but please call me Betty”) Cooper theirs.

 

“Juggie.” Her soft, chased whisper drew him back to her lingering fingers against his lips. “Stop thinking for just once in your life and just take me… all of me tonight.”

 

And with those words, two teens left their love tangled in the sheets. Watching as the sun began to rise from the east as the moon began to set in the west. While both were separated by fate, at that very moment the two stood together, sharing their home of the sky above. Colors blending to make a memory neither would ever forget. Sun rays mending with the shadows of the night, even if it were just for a second, to defy the laws of the universe. The picture was a one Van Gogh would have wished to capture along his canvas, to paint the beauty with his worn brushes. The beauty that was the act of light and dark becoming one. The sun and moon sharing a bed, tied up in each other. The devil and an angel holding on to one another, both dancing in his flames and sleeping under her golden halo. _Drowning_ in their love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How'd you like it? 
> 
> Sorry, I can't write smut lol, I'm leaving that to your imagination as I got embarrassed just writing the kissing scenes. 
> 
> THANK YOU THANK YOU
> 
> I love you with my whole entire heart and soul
> 
> xoxo,  
> char

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading my work! I love you so much for that. 
> 
> Your kudos or comments would make my whole year, trust me. 
> 
> sending love,  
> char


End file.
